EVIL Alexander Pacteau - who murdered Karen Buckley and tried to get rid of her body in an acid bath - ran up a £35,000 legal aid bill.

The total includes £15,000 to fund his defence over a sex crime charge two years before he murdered the Irish student, according to the Scottish Sun.

He was cleared by a jury of attempting to rape a 17-year-old girl in a city lane after he told a trial at Paisley Sheriff Court he was gay.

Pacteau, 22, murdered student Karen in April, just 20 minutes after meeting her in a nightclub in Dumbarton Road.

He then took her body to his rented three-bedroom flat, where he put her in the bath and tried to dispose of her corpse using caustic soda.

His alleged victim spoke out in an exclusive interview with the Evening Times after he admitted killing Karen.

She said: "I had a horrible feeling I would not be the last person he hurt."

Ex-public schoolboy Pacteau got £20,000 of public cash for lawyers at the High Court in Glasgow.

A Scottish Legal Aid Board spokesman said: "An important part of the justice system is that people accused even of abhorrent crimes have legal representation in court.

"If they cannot afford this, then legal aid is available."

Pacteau was ordered to serve at least 23 years for murdering Karen in April last year.

He bludgeoned her to death with a spanner after they met outside West End nightclub, the Sanctuary.