Karen Buckley murder: Man admits killing Irish student in Glasgow
Alexander Pacteau, 21, admitted repeatedly hitting Ms Buckley with a spanner and strangling her in his car.
At the High Court in Glasgow, sentence on Pacteau, from Glasgow, was deferred. He faces a mandatory life term.
Ms Buckley, 24, from Cork, disappeared on 12 April. Her body was found at a farm near Milngavie.
The court heard how Pacteau had met Ms Buckley outside the Sanctuary nightclub in the early hours of Sunday 12 April and drove with her in his car to nearby Kelvin Way.
Spanner attack
The car was parked on the street for 12 minutes, during which time Pacteau attacked and murdered her by grabbing her neck and delivering 12 or 13 blows with the spanner.
The court was told Ms Buckley suffered some injuries to her arm as she tried to defend herself.
Pacteau’s silver Ford Focus was seen on CCTV leaving the area and heading towards Dawsholm Park, where the following morning a member of the public found Ms Buckley’s handbag near a bin.
Four days after she was reported missing, the student’s body was found at High Craigton Farm, near Milngavie, East Dunbartonshire.
Ms Buckley, a qualified nurse, had moved to Scotland in February and was studying occupational therapy at Glasgow Caledonian University.
A massive police search was launched after she was reported missing by her friends who had last seen her at the Sanctuary club in Glasgow’s west end.
Ms Buckley had told her friends she was going to the toilet but did not return or take her jacket.
CCTV images revealed that she had talked to a man – later revealed to be Pacteau – outside the nightclub, before leaving and walking towards Church Street.
Following the discovery of her body, Pacteau was arrested and charged with Ms Buckley’s murder, which he has now admitted.
The 21-year-old faces a mandatory life term when he is sentenced later.
News