Search for other potential victims of Karen Buckley’s killer
A police source said officers will leave “no stone unturned” in the search for other potential victims.
The Sunday Herald reported that Alexander Pacteau was stalking other women in Glasgow’s West End on the night of the 24-year-old Cork woman’s murder.
After watching CCTV footage from Dumbarton Rd on April 12, detectives suspect the 21-year-old had been watching another young woman, moments before he met Karen Buckley.
As part of the murder investigation, police traced the woman, who was wearing a distinctive, bright dress, and interviewed her.
However, the young woman had “no idea” she was being watched or followed and the line of inquiry was dropped.
Detective Superintendent Jim Kerr, from Police Scotland’s Major Investigation Team, said: “Our investigation and subsequent report to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, documented what police currently know about the activities of Alexander Pacteau.”
He added that if anyone had any information about other incidents that Pacteau may have been involved in then “we would ask that they contact police”.
He also rubbished Pacteau’s claims that an argument between the pair led to the murder of the nurse from Mourneabbey.
In fact, the senior officer said, Pacteau was willing to prey on any woman who crossed his path and the killer’s fatal attack “could have happened to any female”.
Pacteau killed Ms Buckley within 20 minutes of meeting her outside The Sanctuary nightclub. He is believed to have lured her into his car by offering her a lift home.
Pacteau pleaded guilty to her murder last week.
It subsequently emerged that a woman who accused Pacteau of trying to rape her four years ago wrote to the Scottish government at the time warning them she believed he would strike again.
“The day I saw Alexander Pacteau’s name in the paper in connection with Karen Buckley, I felt someone had taken all the air out of my lungs. When I read it, my legs just gave out,” she said.
Pacteau was cleared by majority verdict in 2013. The woman said she then wrote to Scottish justice minister Kenny MacAskill “explaining why I knew he [Pacteau] was a danger to others”.
“I wrote ‘Please help me stop him from doing this or worse to another woman or girl’.”
