Age: 44 (61 after sentence)
Sex: female
Crime: murder
Date Of Sentence: 14 Dec 2023 (for 17 years)
End Of Full Sentence: 14 Dec 2040
Place: River Leven, Bonhill, Dunbartonshire
Source: www.scotland.police.uk
Robert O'Brien, Andrew Kelly and Donna Marie Brand were convicted of the murder of Caroline Glachan.
Caroline Glachan was found dead in the River Leven near to the Black Bridge in Bonhill, on 24 August 1996. They were convicted on 14 December 2023 following a cold-case review in the summer of 2019.
Robert O'Brien, Andrew Kelly and Donna Brand had been teenagers at the time of the murder.
They were convicted after a new witness gave evidence that corroborated the evidence of a four-year-old boy who they had been babysitting and who they had taken out with them on the night of the murder and who had seen it. He had given his evidence in a video-interview at the time but his evidence could not before be corroborated.
Caroline Glachan had been violently battered and beaten although there was no evidence of robbery or of sexual assault. She had then been left on the bank of the river, partially submerged in the freezing water to die. Her post-mortem noted that she had been alive when she was dumped into the river. It was noted that there was no drink or drugs found in her system.
She was last seen near the Bonhill Community Centre on the Ladyton estate.
Her mother said that she thought people in the local community knew who had done it, adding that she thought that there were six people in her town that knew who murdered her. Her mother said that she had deliberately stayed in the town, turning down an opportunity to emigrate to Germany, in order that she could be a constant reminder to the people who might know what had happened to her. She added that she thought she might pass Caroline Glachan's murderer in the street most days.
CCTV evidence showed Caroline Glachan dancing on the night she vanished as well as her later walking with some friends near to a block of flats at 11.45pm. She then left the company of her friends at 12.15am. When she was last seen she was wearing jeans and a black sweatshirt.
When she was last seen by her friend she was walking across the park and over to the Main Street where she then went on to Dillichip Loan and towards the tow path. It was said that after leaving her friends she had been going off to see her boyfriend who lived in Renton and had been taking a shortcut there.
She was also seen by a taxi driver walking along Dillichip Loan at about 12.15am. The taxi driver also said that he saw a man wearing a dark green hooded top walking nearby her. The man was said to have had sharp features but was never traced.
Other witnesses said that they also heard arguing or shouting around that time in that area.
A person said that they heard a scream at about 12.30am from the river bank behind the Vale of Leven Academy.
Caroline Glachan was found to have received at least ten blows to the head. It was thought that she might have been alive when she entered the water.
During the investigation the police collected over 300 items that they said they hoped would offer scope for new forensic evidence as techniques improved in the future.
Two men were interviewed in connection with her murder in 2008 but no further action was taken.
The cold case review it was found that Robert O'Brien, Andrew Kelly and Donna Brand claimed that they had spent the night of the murder at 12 Allan Crescent in Renton, but that when they questioned residents of the street they found evidence to challenge their alibi.
They found that a neighbour that lived in the flat above one used by the group said that they had seen four people leaving the flat, including Andrew Kelly and his girlfriend, who has since died, sometime before midnight. They had been babysitting two boys and when they went out they took them with them and were joined by Robert O'Brien and his girlfriend Donna Brand.
The neighbour said that they returned about an hour later and that when they did she heard a massive commotion and an argument.
The police said that her evidence allowed to corroborate an account given by the four-year-old child they had been babysitting and had taken out with them the day after the murder, who said that he saw some fighting at the river and a girl fall in, it being noted that he had also told his mother at the time. His interview was videoed, it being noted that his legs didn't reach the edge of the chair he had been sitting on.
During the interview he also said, 'I saw Caroline in the water'. He also said that he saw Robert O'Brien hit Caroline Glachan with a stick and a metal pole, and that when she was pushed in the water he closed his eyes.
Caroline Glachan had been an only child.
