Karen Buckley killer appeals 23-year sentence

The family of murdered Irish student nurse Karen Buckley may have to relive their nightmare: Her killer, Alexander Pacteau, has applied to have his sentence reduced.

Pacteau, described by Karen’s family as “truly evil”, lodged the appeal against his sentence at the weekend. The 21-year-old was jailed for a minimum of 23 years for bludgeoning the student nurse to death with a spanner in April.

The former public schoolboy tried to dispose of the 24-year-old’s body in a vat of chemicals. As she sentenced him for murder at the High Court in Glasgow earlier this month, Judge Rita Rae said he had carried out a ”brutal, senseless and motiveless attack on a defenceless young woman”.