Man admits murder of Irish student Karen Buckley

Alexander Pacteau, 21, admitted grabbing Ms Buckley by the neck and hitting her repeatedly with a spanner while sitting in his parked car in the early hours of Sunday 12 April.

The 24-year old student from Cork had been seen on CCTV speaking to Mr Pacteau outside Glasgow’s The Sanctuary nightclub only minutes beforehand.

The court heard that Mr Pacteau tried to hide his crime by locking her body in his bedroom before failing to dissolve her body in his bathtub.

He later placed Ms Buckley’s body in a barrel filled with 45 litres of caustic soda, which he hid at High Craigton Farm near Milngavie.

Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland QC told the court that Pacteau had rented two storage units at High Craigton Farm for two weeks.

He put the barrel in one of the units, covered with a sheet and obscured by a bike wheel and a paper shredder which he placed on top of it.

The police found the body after receiving a tip-off shortly after publicly confirming they had spoken to Mr Pacteau.

Mr Pacteau’s sentence was deferred but he faces a mandatory life-term.