THE murder of Irish nurse Karen Buckley resonated so much with the public because she could have been any young woman, in any urban setting, targeted by an opportunistic predator.
The 24 year-old had already contributed a great deal in her young life. She was the only daughter of a north Cork farming family – treasured by her parents and three older brothers.
John and Marian Buckley raised their daughter with the confidence to go out into the world and live life to the full.
On finishing school, Karen left her Mourneabbey home to study nursing at the University of Limerick. After graduating she travelled the world before spending a year working at an Essex hospital.
Her decision to begin a two-year Masters course in occupational therapy at Glasgow Caledonian University was an important step in her plan to spend her working life helping ease other people’s suffering.
At 21, Alexander Pacteau was a former grammar school pupil who had already exposed the darker side of his nature and had shown a propensity for weaselling out of serious trouble.
But more worryingly, Pacteau had also been acquitted of the attempted rape of a young woman he encountered late one night after telling a court he was gay and would rather be charged with murder than attempted rape.
A chance encounter outside The Sanctuary nightclub in Glasgow last April led to Pacteau destroying Karen’s life and creating a permanent, painful void in the lives of those who loved her.
Less than 30 minutes after first offering Karen a lift home, Pacteau had strangled and beaten her to death with a spanner.
Karen’s disappearance was immediately taken seriously by Glasgow police and resulted in one of the largest search operations Scotland had ever seen.
People across Ireland and the UK constantly monitored the news for updates on the search, recognising Karen as a modern, hard-working young woman representative of so many of her peers.
Many were deeply moved by the Buckleys’ televised appeal for the safe return of the daughter they loved dearly.
But as the public attended candlelit vigils for Karen, her killer was plotting ways to hide his crime. Fortunately, Pacteau’s efforts were thwarted by dedicated police work that led to his arrest and eventual conviction for murder.
At Karen’s funeral in Mourneabbey a fortnight after her murder, Fr Joe O’Keeffe described her death as “so utterly inappropriate”.
Sentencing Pacteau to a minimum of 23 years behind bars yesterday Judge Lady Rae described Karen as “a young woman in the prime of life” who had become the prey of a “callous and calculating man”.
The Buckley family said they continued to mourn daily the child who had been taken away from them by a “truly evil coward” in “the cruellest of ways”.
Last month, the Buckleys released a photograph of Karen’s childhood bedroom filled with letters of support from strangers, while police have also thanked people for the countless messages they have received.
Clíona Saidléar of Rape Crisis Network Ireland said the story of the young Irish nurse had struck a chord with the public because she was a kind of “everywoman”, starting out her out her life and “full of adventure”.
On the other hand, photographs of Pacteau that have appeared in the media suggest he “fits the bill” for a violent perpetrator, a “monster that we will know when we see them”.
However, Ms Saidléar warned the reality is that predators are “all around us and amongst us”.
“It is comforting to think that we will be able to recognise a predator but the reality is that they are more everyday and commonplace,” she added.
