Karen Buckley’s killer opts not to appeal length of sentence

The man who murdered Irish nurse Karen Buckley has dropped his appeal against the length of his sentence.

Alexander Pacteau, 21, murdered Ms Buckley, 24, within half an hour of meeting her outside the Sanctuary nightclub in Glasgow in the early hours of April 12. Having offered Ms Buckley a lift home, he beat her to death with a spanner in his parked car.

Pacteau pleaded guilty last August to Ms Buckley’s murder and, on September 8, he was sentenced to life imprisonment, to serve a minimum of 23 years.

Ten days later, Pacteau indicated his intention to appeal against the sentence, and the three judges of the Criminal Appeal Court in Edinburgh were due to hear the appeal tomorrow.

However, the court has confirmed Pacteau’s decision to withdraw his appeal.

“The Criminal Appeal Court has this afternoon received notification that Alexander Pacteau has abandoned his appeal against sentence for the murder of Karen Buckley,” a spokesperson said.

Having murdered the Cork native, Pacteau subsequently attempted to cover up his crime by disposing of Ms Buckley’s body, firstly by dissolving it in chemicals and then by disposing of it in a barrel on a farm on the outskirts of the Scottish city.

While he was originally charged with murder and attempting to defeat the ends of justice, prosecutors did not proceed with the latter charge. His legal team had argued that his attempts to dispose of her body could not be considered an aggravating factor when it came to his sentencing, because the prosecutor had decided not to go ahead with the charge of attempting to defeat the ends of justice.

Justice Lady Rae described the legal team’s efforts to have her disregard Pacteau’s actions after the murder as an “extraordinary submission”.

“It has always been the position that what an accused does after a crime to conceal what he did may be an aggravating factor,” said Lady Rae.