Mags Gargan
The family of Cork nurse Karen Buckley, who was murdered in Scotland last year, have thanked their parish priest for being a “rock of support”.
In a statement released for her one-year anniversary Mass in Analeentha, Co. Cork her family said they had received thousands of Mass cards, flowers and wreaths from “all over Ireland, Scotland and beyond”.
The Buckley family expressed their “sincere gratitude to the very mKaren Buckleyany people who went out of their way to help and support us at the time of her death and ever since”, but gave “a special word of gratitude” to Fr Joe O’Keeffe “who has been a rock of support as well as a true friend throughout the trauma of the past year”.
Gentle soul
Ms Buckley (24) disappeared in April last year after leaving a Glasgow nightclub. Following a four-day search her body was found on a farm on the outskirts of the city. In September, Alexander Pacteau was sentenced to serve 23 years for her murder.
About 200 parishioners attended the Mass in the Church of St Michael the Archangel where Fr Joe O’Keeffe described Karen as a “gentle soul” who had touched the lives of everyone she met.