Scottish Catholic Observer

The funeral for Irish student Karen Buckley, who was murdered in Glasgow earlier this month, took place in County Cork this morning.

Mourners at the Church of St Michael the Archangel in Analeentha were told by parish priest Fr Joe O’Keefe say that her death seemed ‘utterly inappropriate.’

Ms Buckley, 24, a nurse and student, went missing following a night out at the Sanctuary nightclub in Glasgow on April 11. Her body was found at High Craigton farm, near Drymen, four days later. Alexander Pacteau, 21, from Glasgow, has appeared in court charged with her murder.

A total of 20 priests offered the the Requiem Mass for Ms Buckley today. Commandant Kieran Carey represented the Irish prime minister. Irish minister Darragh Murphy and the Lord Mayor of Cork Mary Shields were also present. Representatives of the Police Scotland were also at the funeral.

“24 years simply does not seem the right time to die—it does not seem to add up,” Fr O’Keefe told mourners.

“Karen was a young woman, a friend. To her family she was a cousin, a niece, a sister-in-law, a sister, a daughter, a child…

“It is most difficult then for them, but in particular for Karen’s parents, John and Marian, to associate the cradle to the coffin. One represents the beginning of life and the other represents the end. And it is doubly sad when the two are so closely linked.”

Ms Buckley moved to Glasgow in February to study occupational therapy at Glasgow Caledonian University. She lived in the city’s Garnethill area. She was an only daughter. Her parents and brothers brought her body back to her native Cork on a specially commissioned flight from Glasgow at the weekend.

Pic: PA Photos: The coffin of murdered student Karen Buckley is carried from the Church of St Michael the Archangel, Analeentha, County Cork, today past honour gurad made up of nurses and nursing students holding single red roses

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