The heartbroken family of murdered Cork nurse Karen Buckley have expressed their thanks to all those who supported them over the past 12 months.

“Karen’s death seems so utterly inappropriate. It violates our sense of order. In our view of life, death and childhood are poles apart, and 24 years simply does not seem the right time to die — it does not seem to add up.”

“There is an outpouring of love and helplessness,” said Mourneabbey-born Fr Seán Corkery as he tried to sum up the feelings of a small tight-knit community experiencing a rollercoaster of emotions as news filtered back from Glasgow that police had officially identified Karen Buckley’s body.

Hundreds of people gathered at a church in Mourneabbey last night for a Mass of Hope for missing student Karen Buckley as word filtered through that police in Scotland had detained a man for questioning in relation to her disappearance.