The police hunt for missing student Karen Buckley has intensified as divers and sniffer dogs scoured parts of Glasgow for clues about her disappearance.
Specialist officers carried out fingertip searches at a flat north-west of the city on Wednesday, while a second team of detectives, aided by a helicopter crew, combed a nearby park where her handbag was discovered on Tuesday.
Det Supt Jim Kerr, who is leading the investigation, said finding Karen was the force’s “absolute priority” as the increasingly desperate search neared its fifth day.
The student, from Cork in Ireland, was last seen on CCTV in the early hours of Sunday talking to a man outside the Sanctuary nightclub in Dumbarton Road. The pair travelled in the man’s car to his flat in Dorchester Avenue, about two miles from the club, where they spent several hours.
Karen is said to have left his flat at about 4am and was planning to walk the hour-long journey to her home in Hill Street, near the city centre. She has not been seen since. Her friends and family said the student was not keen on taking taxis, so choosing to walk would not be unusual for her.
The man, who detectives have stressed is not being treated as a suspect at this stage, has been named locally as Alexander Pacteau, 21, the director of a courier firm. His mother, Noreen, 43, told the Daily Record: “As you can tell by the police reports, he is not a suspect. She left his property at four o’clock in the morning and she was seen by other witnesses, not Alexander. So he is not a suspect.”
As specialist officers searched Dawsholm Park, where the missing student’s handbag was found, another team of black-clad officers carried out exhaustive searches of the ground around Pacteau’s flat in the Kelvinside area of the city.
Under the gaze of photographers and television cameras, officers searched the communal front and rear gardens of the flat, looked inside locked garages and examined the contents of nearby bins.
Kerr said: “Our absolute priority is to find Karen Buckley. We have a team of specialist search officers from the west and east working in the area as well as additional patrols in the west end and north of the city. Anyone with any information, no matter how insignificant it may seem, should contact 101 or anonymously on Crimestoppers.”
Karen’s friends said they arrived at the Sanctuary nightclub at about 11.45pm on Saturday and at about 1am she told her friends she was going to the toilet. But she failed to return and left her jacket.
Karen, who began an occupational therapy degree at Glasgow Caledonian University in February, was previously a nurse at the Princess Alexandria hospital in Harlow, Essex.
Her parents, Marion and John, have flown to Glasgow from their home in Ireland. John Buckley, 62, told a press conference on Tuesday his daughter’s disappearance was out of character.
He said: “We are extremely concerned for her. We are desperate to get her back and safe with her family – she is our only daughter, we love her dearly and just want her to come home safe and sound.”
Detectives said they were concerned for Karen’s wellbeing as they appealed for information about a grey car seen on the country roads between Milngavie and Drymen between 11am and 3pm on Monday.
Meanwhile, her friends used social media to pay tribute to the “kind, caring girl who wouldn’t hurt a fly”. One friend, Julie, wrote on Facebook: “Only met them a handful of times but they are lovely people and doting parents. Karen has always spoke so fondly of her mum, dad and three brothers. She is a credit to her parents.
“Karen is a kind, caring girl who wouldn’t hurt a fly.. perfect for the caring profession. Come back to us safe Karen, come back soon. Missing you my little Buckaroo.
“All your friends are supporting each other waiting on new news every second, of every minute, of every day. I love you xx”
