Woman jailed for murdering schoolgirl Caroline Glachan dies in hospital

One of the killers who took part in the horrific murder of teenager Caroline Glachan 30 years ago has died in hospital.

Donna Brand and Andrew Kelly were found guilty of murdering 14-year-old Caroline at the River Leven in Renton, West Dunbartonshire, in August 1996 along with a co-accused Robert O’Brien, following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow in 2023.

All three were jailed for life, and O’Brien was ordered to serve at least 22 years in prison for the crime. Kelly was ordered to serve a minimum of 18 years and Brand 17 years.

Brand, 47, jailed at HMP & YOI Stirling, died at Forth Valley Royal Hospital near Falkirk on Wednesday.

Caroline Glachan was found dead in a river in 1996. Police Scotland

Brand and Kelly appealed against their convictions, claiming that there was insufficient evidence to support their convictions for the crime. O’Brien was refused leave to pursue an appeal.

But judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh in January 2025 refused their conviction appeals and also rejected a challenge by Brand against the length of the minimum term of imprisonment imposed on her.

Scotland’s senior judge, the Lord Justice General, Lord Carloway, sitting with Lord Matthews and Lord Beckett, said there was evidence that both O’Brien and Brand had previously shown malice towards the victim.

He said there was also evidence that the deceased intended to meet up with O’Brien in the vicinity of a bridge over the Leven. The trio along with a fourth adult and two children left a flat in Renton before the schoolgirl victim was subjected to the attack, which was seen by a child witness.

Lord Carloway said the attack on the deceased involved serious violence, including the use of a pole and a stick and boulders being thrown at the teenager.

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From left to right: Donna Marie Brand, Andrew Kelly and Robert O’Brien.

The senior judge said: “From this evidence, the jury would have been entitled to hold, as indeed they did unanimously, that the purpose that all had in going to the scene was to be serious violence against the deceased.”

Lord Carloway said the convictions appeals had to be refused and added: “There was a clear rational basis for the jury’s unanimous verdict.”

He said the sentence imposed on Brand was not considered to be excessive given “her participation in this horrific crime.”

The sentence appeal was also refused.

The killers were all teenagers at the time they launched the brutal assault on Caroline from Bonhill, in Dunbartonshire.

Her body was discovered face down in the river on August 25, 1996 by a passerby. A post-mortem showed she suffered at least ten blows to the head and sustained extensive skull fractures.

O’Brien, Brand and Kelly all denied murdering the teenager and claimed they had alibis as they were somewhere else at the time of the crime.

A Scottish Prison Service spokesperson said: “Every death, whether in prison custody or in our communities, is a tragedy for all those who knew and supported the individual.

“Following the death of someone in our care, Police Scotland are advised, and the matter reported to the Procurator Fiscal. Fatal Accident Inquiries are held in due course.”