Two men and a woman have been found guilty of murdering a 14-year-old girl whose body was found in a river in Scotland 27 years ago.
Robert O’Brien, 45, Andrew Kelly, 44, and Donna Marie Brand were found guilty at the High Court in Glasgow on Thursday for the death of Caroline Glachan.
Judge Lord Braid condemned the trio’s actions and remanded them into custody at the High Court in Glasgow on Thursday afternoon following their conviction.
Ms Glachan’s family could be heard sobbing in court as the verdicts were announced.
Speaking outside court, the victim’s mother Margaret McKeich said: “This is a day we never thought would happen. I would like to say a huge thank you to Detective Inspector Stuart Grainger and all the officers who worked on this case over the years.
“I do not know what to say. It was a wonderful day. I can’t summarize how I feel. “This won’t bring her back but at least we know whoever’s responsible has been sentenced to prison because she’s had Christmases and birthdays for the last 25 years but my Caroline is lying on the floor.”
Miss Glachan’s body was found on the banks of the River Leven in Renton, about 45 miles northwest of Glasgow, on 25 August 1996.
Prosecutor Alex Prentice KC told the court after the trio were sentenced: “Obviously this is an old case. “The feeling of the loss of Caroline Glachan… was immeasurable and has not diminished over the years.”
The hearing at the High Court in Glasgow heard 10 days of evidence from a range of witnesses, including friends and family of Ms Glachan, who was a pupil at Our Lady and St Patrick’s High School in Dumbarton.
Prosecutors said the three defendants, who were all teenagers at the time of the murder, arranged to meet Ms Glachan at a bridge near the riverside towpath between Renton and Bonhill.
They then attacked the 14-year-old boy, yelling at him, swearing at him and repeatedly kicking and punching him in the head and body.
The trio threw bricks or “similar implements”, causing blunt force injuries to his head and body, then pushed him or caused him to fall into the river, eventually killing him.
Miss Glachan’s mother, Margaret McKeich, and the teenager’s best friend, Joanne Menzies, gave evidence during the hearing.
Forensic pathologist Dr Marjorie Turner said Ms Glachan’s cause of death was drowning, but she lost consciousness due to “significant blows” to the head before entering the river.
He told the court: “He was still alive when he went into the water. Drowning was the ultimate cause of death.”
The jury retired to begin deliberations on Tuesday and returned unanimous guilty verdicts for all three on Thursday afternoon.
During the trial, the court heard Ms Glachan’s mother, Margaret McKeich, say she had a “lover” for her daughter’s boyfriend, O’Brien, and later killed him.
Ms McKeich said her daughter had previously explained that O’Brien had “raised his hands on her”.
Ms McKeich said she disapproved of her daughter’s relationship with O’Brien, known as Robbie, because he was several years her senior.
Her daughter’s body was found on Ms. McKeich’s 40th birthday.
Returning from the celebrations in the early hours of the morning, Mrs. McKeich discovered that her daughter was not at home.
He received the news that his body had been found the next day, on August 25.
Later in the hearing Miss Glachan’s childhood friend Joanne Menzies, 42, told the court O’Brien had threatened to kill Miss Glachan for “kissing another boy” and that she had seen O’Brien bully the schoolgirl on more than one occasion.
Forensic pathologist Dr. Marjorie Turner told the court Ms Glachan’s ultimate cause of death was drowning.
He told the hearing: “He was still alive when he entered the water. Drowning was the ultimate cause of death.”
During the trial, assault charges against O’Brien were dropped.
Jurors also heard that Brand “threatened to assault” Ms Glachan after learning O’Brien was seeing them both at the same time and that Brand was “unhappy”.
The court heard three men said George Graham, now dead, had confessed to being responsible for the 14-year-old boy’s murder.
Witnesses included his then-girlfriend, Jean McIntyre, now deceased; His cousin Margaret Connolly, who was 16 at the time, and Mary Rose Connolly, who was also deceased, gave statements to police saying Graham had confessed to killing Glachan.
O’Brien, Kelly and Brand will be sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow on January 15.
The trio denied the accusation and entered a special alibi plea.
As they were taken to the cells, a relative of Brand shouted: “I will fight until my last breath to get you out of there.”