Killer boyfriend and his friend finally jailed nearly 30 years after murder
A killer boyfriend and a friend who murdered a teenage girl more than 27 years ago have been jailed for life
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A killer boyfriend and a friend who murdered a teenage girl more than 27 years ago have been jailed for life.
Robert O'Brien, Andrew Kelly and Donna Marie Brand "lured" 14-year-old Caroline Glachan to a bridge in 1996 before attacking her with bricks and leaving the school girl to die.
Last month, the trio were found guilty of killing O'Brien's girlfriend, Glachan after a trial at the High Court in Glasgow.
The jury heard that O’Brien, Kelly and Brand had arranged to meet Glachan at a bridge near the towpath beside the River Leven, between Renton and Bonhill in West Dunbartonshire, on August 25, 1996.
Robert O'Brien (left), Andrew Kelly and Donna Marie Brand 'lured' 14-year-old Caroline Glachan to a bridge in 1996
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They repeatedly punched, kicked and threw bricks or similar items at her, which caused 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 her mother's 40th birthday.
The court heard how drug addict O'Brien - who was 18 at the time - first met Glachan two months before her death.
McKeich said her daughter had previously disclosed that O’Brien had "lifted his hands to her."
A "pivotal" witness to the case was four-and-a-half year-old Archie Wilson, whose mother Elizabeth Wilson said: "He said they were down the Leven, that they were fighting with the lassie, that she ended up falling in and that they had battered the lassie."
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O'Brien was ordered to serve a minimum of 22 years in jail, while Kelly was handed a minimum of 18 years.
Brand was unable to attend the sentencing hearing as she was in hospital with a respiratory infection and will be sentenced in March.
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.
Forensic pathologist, Dr Marjorie Turner said the 14-year-old was still alive when she entered the water and the cause of death was drowning.
The judge told the court that while Kelly played a lesser role, he was also involved in inflicting "murderous violence" on the teenager.
During the trial, Caroline Glachan'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
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Judge Lord Braid said: “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."
Speaking to 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.
"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."