Karen Buckley murder: Alexander Pacteau abandons appeal

Karen Buckley moved to Glasgow in February to study occupational therapy at Glasgow Caledonian University

The man who killed Irish student Karen Buckley has abandoned the appeal against his sentence.

Alexander Pacteau, 21, was jailed for a minimum of 23 years after admitting bludgeoning the 24-year-old with a spanner and strangling her in his car.

He then attempted to dispose of Ms Buckley's body in a vat of chemicals at a farm outside Glasgow.

A spokeswoman from the Judiciary of Scotland confirmed the case will no longer call as planned on Friday.

Papers for Pacteau's appeal were lodged at the Criminal Court of Appeal in Edinburgh in September.

Pacteau originally faced a second charge of attempting to defeat the ends of justice

At his sentencing in the High Court in Glasgow that month, Judge Lady Rae said Pacteau had carried out a "brutal, senseless and motiveless attack on a defenceless young woman".

Pacteau originally faced a second charge of attempting to defeat the ends of justice by misleading police and trying to conceal Miss Buckley's body.

The Crown withdrew the charge before his plea and his solicitor John Scullion QC suggested his actions after the killing should not therefore be regarded when considering sentence.

During the sentencing, Lady Rae told the court she regretted that the Crown had withdrawn a charge relating to Pacteau's actions after the murder, saying it "tied her hands" to some extent in relation to the sentence.

But she added: "I have come to the view that I cannot ignore your conduct after the killing."