What happened to Caroline Glachan? How her killers were caught after 27 years
Two men have been jailed for life for murdering a schoolgirl in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, more than 27 years ago.
Robert O’Brien, 45, Andrew Kelly, 44, and Donna Marie Brand, 44, were found guilty in December of killing 14-year-Caroline Glachan in August 1996, after a trial at the High Court in Glasgow. Caroline was O’Brien’s girlfriend at the time.
O’Brien and Kelly were jailed for life when they appeared for sentencing on Monday. Brand was unable to attend the sentencing hearing as she was in hospital with a respiratory infection and will be sentenced in March, the court heard.
O’Brien was ordered to serve a minimum of 22 years behind bars while Kelly was handed a minimum of 18 years.
What happened to Caroline Glachan?
During 10 days of evidence heard in December, the jury heard that O’Brien, Kelly and Brand had arranged to meet Caroline at a bridge near the towpath beside the River Leven, between Renton and Bonhill in West Dunbartonshire, on 25 August, 1996.
They repeatedly punched and kicked her and threw bricks or similar items at her, causing blunt force trauma to her head and body.
She was pushed or fell into undergrowth and her body was discovered in the river at Place of Bonhill, Renton, later the same day – which was also her mother’s 40th birthday.
Dr Marjorie Turner, a forensic pathologist, told the court the 14-year-old was still alive when she went into the water and the ultimate cause of death was drowning.
When sentencing O’Brien and Kelly, Judge Lord Braid described the murder as “brutal, depraved and above all wicked”.
He said O’Brien was the main perpetrator and used “extreme violence” on the 14-year-old. The judge said that while Kelly played a lesser role, he was also involved in inflicting “murderous violence” on the teenager.
During the trial, Caroline’s mother, Margaret McKeich, said her daughter was “infatuated” with O’Brien – but she did not approve of the relationship as he was a few years older.
Mrs McKeich said her daughter had previously disclosed that O’Brien had “lifted his hands to her”.
Caroline’s childhood friend, Joanne Menzies, now 42, told the court that O’Brien had threatened to kill Caroline for “kissing another boy” – and that she had seen O’Brien bully Caroline on more than one occasion.
At sentencing, Judge Lord Braid told O’Brien and Kelly: “Caroline was a lover of life but due to both of you Caroline has been deprived of the opportunity of living that life, becoming an adult, having children, fulfilling the potential she had.
“You have taken a daughter from a loving mother. Mrs McKeich has spoken of the pain that Caroline’s death has caused, the void her death has left that will never be filled.
“She has been deprived of seeing the woman that Caroline would have become. No sentence that I pass could possibly make up for what she has lost.”
Addressing O’Brien, Lord Braid said: “Nobody who heard the evidence of the pathologist Dr Marjorie Turner could fail to be sickened by her descriptions of the injuries caused by you.”
He said O’Brien arranged to meet the teenager, but on arrival along with Brand, Kelly and two young children, they were looking after, Caroline would have realised it was not a “romantic encounter” – but that the teenagers had come “mob-handed” intending to assault her.
He told O’Brien: “You then carried out a murderous assault on Caroline. Then having assaulted her and left her unconscious you left her face down in the river and while she may have died from the injuries inflicted on her, she died from drowning.”
Lord Braid said Kelly threw rocks at Caroline and must also accept responsibility for leaving her in the river.
How were her killers caught?
Police Scotland’s Major Investigation Team started re-examining the case again in 2019, and in the absence of any DNA or digital forensic evidence, witness statements were key to Caroline’s killers finally being brought to justice.
Prosecutor Alex Prentice KC said evidence given by a boy, Archie Wilson – who was four-and-a-half years old at the time of the murder – during the trial was “pivotal” to the case.
Archie and his younger brother Jamie were present when Caroline was attacked, as Kelly had been babysitting them.
O’Brien, Kelly and Brand were not initially arrested and charged over Caroline’s murder as they stuck to their alibi that they had all been at the flat of Archie and Jamie’s mother, Betty Wilson, that night.
Detective Inspector Stuart Grainger, senior investigating officer, told BBC News how his team went back and interviewed people who lived in the area at the time of the murder – including those who were children.
“Ultimately it led us to a real key witness in this, who was the upstairs neighbour of Betty Wilson,” he said.
“When we spoke to Linda Dorrian she said she was in her house that night with her 10-year-old daughter, Emma.”
He added that she told police how she saw O’Brien, Kelly and Brand leave the house that night, along with the two Wilson boys, before returning later.
“That information was not known. That is the first time we have got anybody committing to paper that they were out of the house at that time,” he said.
Asked why this evidence was not gathered in 1996, Detective Inspector Grainger said it appeared the relevant questions had not been asked by police.
Speaking outside court on Monday, Mrs McKeich said she was “over the moon” that justice had been done for her daughter.
“This is the day that I’ve been waiting for for 27 years,” she said. “It was more than what I was hoping for, I’m really, really happy. I’m just sad that the other one is not here to get her comeuppance but she’ll get it in March.
“Today I couldn’t have wished for more, the outcome, the whole thing. I am over the moon.
“It’s not going to bring Caroline back but it’s justice for her. I don’t know if closure is the right word but justice has certainly been done.”
