Tributes to murdered nurse Karen one year on

Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) held a special memorial service on its campus yesterday to mark the first anniversary of the brutal murder of Karen Buckley (24).

The private service was attended by GCU officials, students and former classmates of the young Cork woman who was studying for her masters degree in occupational therapy.

Ceremony

GCU's Dean of Health and Life Sciences, Vincent McKay, said the private ceremony was aimed at remembering Karen.

"The School of Health and Life Sciences has invited Karen's friends, classmates and staff to a small remembrance service which will be led by a GCU chaplain," he said.

"This offers students and staff the opportunity to come together for a time of quiet, personal reflection, to remember both Karen and her family at this time."

GCU declined media requests to attend the memorial service.

Karen had only been in Glasgow a matter of weeks when, as she walked home from a night out, she was lured into a car by Alexander Pacteau (21) with the offer of a lift, attacked and then brutally beaten to death on April 12, 2015.

Pacteau is now serving life with a minimum 23-year term.

Karen's family will stage its own anniversary mass in Mourneabbey in north Cork on Friday morning.

The Cork ceremony coincides with the exact date Glasgow police confirmed they had recovered and identified Karen's body on an isolated hill farm outside the city four days after her disappearance.

Karen's family have declined all comment since Pacteau pleaded guilty.

John and Marian Buckley described the six-foot, four-inch Pacteau as "a cowardly killer".