I forgive man who murdered my daughter - and I have prayed for him, says anguished father
The father of murdered student Karen Buckley revealed he has forgiven his daughter’s killer.John Buckley has sent a letter and a crucifix to Alexander Pacteau, 31, who is serving a minimum 23-year sentence for the murder in Glasgow in 2015.Pacteau battered the 24-year-old with a spanner and then strangled her after meeting her outside a nightclub.The Irish trainee nurse was found crammed into a barrel of caustic soda at a farm near Milngavie, north of Glasgow.More than a decade after the horrific killing, father-of-four Mr Buckley said: ‘I do forgive the man that murdered Karen. Over the years I’ve included him in my prayers and at mass said for Karen and him.’Speaking to hundreds of worshippers at Galway Cathedral earlier this month, Mr Buckley said Christianity had helped him to find peace amid the tragedy.The 72-year-old now prays for Pacteau to find a similar solace through religion.He said: ‘Before Christmas I wrote to the prison authorities and their suggestion was to write a letter to him. Student Karen Buckley was murdered in 2015 John Buckley, Karen's father, has forgiven killer Alexander Pacteau Pacteau was 21 when he was sentenced to a minimum of 23 years in prison for killing Karen Buckley‘And I told him I forgive him and that, no matter how bad or what harm we’ve done, or what sins we’ve committed, if we turn back to Jesus and we’re sorry, he will forgive us.’Mr Buckley also sent the convict a leaflet and a ‘little cross’ from a pilgrimage site in Bosnia and Herzegovina.‘I know what it’s like being in a very dark place. I also know what it’s like for Jesus to lead me out of it,’ he said.The astonishing show of mercy is a dramatic shift for Mr Buckley, who previously branded Pacteau a ‘truly evil coward’ after he pleaded guilty to the murder in 2015.In a statement at the time, the grief-stricken father said: ‘I hope that he is never released and spends every day in prison haunted by what he did.’The judge overseeing Pacteau’s trial said his actions were ‘motiveless, senseless and brutal’.Lady Rae told him: ‘I find it extremely difficult to find words appropriate to describe the dreadful crime to which you pleaded guilty.’ However, Mr Buckley told the Galway congregation that, although Pacteau was ‘a young man intent on committing murder’, he deserved the same support that his own family had experienced after Karen’s killing. John and Marian Buckley leaving the High Court in Glasgow after Pacteau was sentenced‘The amount of cards and masses being said for us as a family, everybody praying for us, was absolutely incredible,’ he said.‘It shared in some of our grief and took some of that pain. We should never, ever lose hope.’A Scottish Prison Service spokesman said: ‘We do not comment on individuals.’
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I forgive man who murdered my daughter - and I have prayed for him, says anguished father
