On 12 April 2015, 24-year-old nursing student Karen Buckley was murdered in Glasgow, Scotland, after leaving a nightclub that she had attended with her friends at 1 a.m. She was approached by Alexander Pacteau, a 21-year-old courier company owner, and entered his car after presumably being offered a lift home.

Pacteau went on to beat her to death with a spanner, put her body inside a barrel full of caustic soda, and hide it at a farm shortly after.

Karen had a normal upbringing as a teenager, she attended St. Mary's Secondary School in Mallow, County Cork and played Gaelic football for Mourneabbey.

[6] After graduating, Buckley secured a job at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Essex, England, where she worked for a few months before moving to Scotland to study occupational therapy at Glasgow University.

In November 2011, Pacteau was accused of attacking a 24-year-old woman after approaching her outside a nightclub, she agreed to enter a taxi with him, as they were looking for it, he pushed her into an alley, and allegedly sexually assaulted her.

Pacteau struggled to find employment, leading to an incident in 2014 where he faced a conviction for forging bank notes and being sentenced to carry out 25 hours of community service.

It was found that Buckley had left her jacket in the club, and on CCTV she was caught talking to a man who was later identified as Pacteau in Dumbarton Road.

[16] However, his flatmate was expected to return soon so Pacteau, fearful of the amount of time he had left, threw the spanner used as the murder weapon into the Forth and Clyde Canal,[17] drained the bathtub, and placed Buckley's body inside a duvet overnight.

After Buckley was last seen, CCTV Footage showed Pacteau's car, a grey Ford Focus, driving down Dumbarton Road, turning to Kelvin Way, and re-emerging 12 minutes later.

[2] He had made other odd purchases following Buckley's disappearance including over six litres of caustic soda from separate shops, a mask, gloves, and a large blue barrel.

The detectives looked around his apartment and in his bedroom they noticed a roll of duct tape, nail brushes, a toolbox, and that his mattress did not fit his bed frame.

Pacteau also said that when Buckley was announced as missing, he "panicked", knowing he was probably the last person to see her, so he had gotten rid of some of his clothes and the blood-stained mattress from his flat and burned it.

Furthermore, after searching his clothes Police found a receipt in his trouser pocket which showed he had purchased padlocks and caustic soda at some point.

[1] Buckley's handbag, containing her phone and passport, had been found by a member of the public near a rubbish bin at Dawsholm Park, resulting in a wide search there which included helicopters and sniffer dogs.

[1] With the overwhelming amount of evidence connecting him to the disappearance, Pacteau was detained in a Starbucks on 15 April 2015 in Nelson Mandela Place in Glasgow city centre at around 2pm and again taken to Helen Street Police Office for further questioning.

[1] The barrel was then taken to Southern General Hospital in Glasgow, where a post-mortem examination was carried out, revealing that Buckley had suffered multiple soft neck injuries, and about 12 or 13 heavy blows to her head, which fractured her skull and led to subdural hemorrhage, causing her brain to bleed out.

[1] The judge, Lady Rita Rae, told the High Court that Pacteau, from Bearsden, Glasgow, must serve a minimum of 23 years for the murder of Buckley before he could apply for parole.

[2][23] Buckley's parents made a statement thanking the police and people of Scotland for their work on the case and for helping bring their daughter justice.