Karen Buckley’s body to be flown home today

The body of murdered Irish student Karen Buckley is expected to be flown home today, accompanied by her family, after it was officially released by authorities in Glasgow yesterday.

It follows the completion of a second postmortem, requested by the lawyers of 21-year-old Alexander Pacteau who is charged with the student’s murder.

Karen’s family have published a death notice announcing that Karen will lie in repose on Monday evening, April 27, at O’Connell’s Funeral Home, St James’s Avenue, Mallow, from 4pm to 8pm. Removal will be to the Church of St Michael the Archangel, Analeentha, near her home in Mourneabbey. Requiem Mass will take place on Tuesday at 2pm, with burial at St John’s Cemetery, Burnfort.

Meanwhile, Pacteau made his second appearance at a Glasgow court yesterday.

He is accused of attacking the 24-year-old with a spanner and strangling her before covering her body in “corrosive substances” and putting her in a barrel.

READ MORE: No plea from man accused of murdering Karen Buckley . 

The 21-year-old appeared in the dock at a private court appearance yesterday for the second time for a full committal hearing.

Pacteau made no plea or declaration and was remanded in custody by sheriff Kenneth Hogg.

It is expected he will stand trial later this year.

Papers from Glasgow Sheriff Court claim that on April 12 at his Dorchester Avenue flat and elsewhere, he repeatedly hit her on the head with a spanner, or similar object.

The murder charge also reads that Pacteau “compressed her neck”.

Pacteau faces a second charge that between April 12 and 13 at his West End flat and at High Craigton Farm, Drymen, knowing he had killed Miss Buckley, he “applied corrosive substances” to her body.

It is alleged Pacteau put her body in a plastic barrel and “concealed” it in a storage shed.

Ms Buckley, a qualified nurse, went missing following a night out at the Sanctuary nightclub in Glasgow’s West End on April 11.

The alarm was raised after Ms Buckley failed to return to her friends at the Dumbarton Road nightclub, having told them that she was going to the bathroom.

She was seen on CCTV leaving the club with Pacteau, and police later traced the courier firm director to his apartment.

Her body was found four days after her disappearance by police at a farm to the north of the city.

Ms Buckley’s death certificate was officially issued by a registrar in Glasgow on Wednesday. Signed by her parents Marian and John, the certificate states that Ms Buckley died of head and neck injuries.

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