Karen Buckley murder: Timeline of events

A timeline of events leading to Alexander Pacteau’s arrest. Pacteau, 21, pleaded guilty to the murder of Irish student Karen Buckley on Tuesday.

Karen Buckley. Picture: Hemedia

April 11

11.45pm: Karen Buckley and her friends arrive at The Sanctuary nightclub, on Glasgow’s Dumbarton Road, around 5-10 minutes after Alexander Pacteau and his friends arrived at the venue.

April 12

1.00am: CCTV images show Pacteau

1.00am: Karen tells friends she is going to the toilet but does not return. She is seen on CCTV outside the club talking to a man and then walking west along Dumbarton Road towards Church Street.

Around 5.00am: Karen’s flatmates raise the alarm when she fails to return home and they can’t make contact with her.

April 13

Police appeal for information to trace the man spotted in the CCTV images with the student.

April 14

Police hold a press conference during which Karen’s parents say they are ‘desperate’ for her to come home safely.

Officers say they have traced the man spotted in the CCTV footage and he is helping them with their inquiries.

They also reveal Karen’s handbag has been discovered in Dawsholm Park, near Dorchester Avenue in the Kelvindale area of Glasgow, early in the afternoon.

April 15

Search teams and forensic experts scour the area around Dawsholm Park and a flat in Dorchester Avenue.

6.30pm: Police say a 21-year-old-man has been detained in connection with Karen’s disappearance.

April 16

1.10am: Police say they have recovered human remains on a farm on the outskirts of Glasgow.

4.00am: Police Scotland states that a 21-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the death of the student.

4.15pm: Police confirm the remains are those of Karen Buckley.

April 17

Alexander Pacteau, 21, appears on petition at Glasgow Sheriff Court charged with Karen’s murder.

He makes no plea or declaration and is remanded in custody.

5.00pm: Karen’s parents join hundreds of people at a vigil for the student in Glasgow city centre.

A piper plays as mourners lay flowers and others sing Scottish and Irish songs before a minute’s silence in George Square.

April 24

Pacteau makes a second private appearance in court and the case is fully committed.

April 28

Hundreds of people attend Karen’s funeral in her native Mourneabbey, near Mallow, in Cork.

August 11

Pacteau pleads guilty to murder when he appears at the High Court in Glasgow.