Robert O’Brien, 45 and Andrew Kelly, 44, brutally killed Caroline Glachan near her home in Bonhill

Caroline Glachan: The 14-year-old was found dead by the River Leven in 1996. Top of page her mother, Margaret McKeich, pictured with a police officer appealing for witnesses.

By Bill Heaney

Two Renton men have received life jail sentences for murdering Bonhill schoolgirl Caroline Glachan at the Black Bridge over the River Leven 27 years ago.

Robert O’Brien, 45 and Andrew Kelly, 44, killed Caroline Glachan close to her home in Bonhill in August 1996.

At the High Court in Glasgow, O’Brien was ordered to serve a minimum of 22 years behind bars, while Kelly was ordered to serve a minimum of 18 years. O’Brien will be 77 by the time he can apply for parole to get out of prison and Kelly 72.

Donna Marie Brand, 44, was also found guilty of the schoolgirl’s murder but was unable to be sentenced on Monday as she was in hospital with a respiratory infection and will be sentenced in March, the court heard.

Judge Lord Braid described Caroline Glachan’s 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 while Kelly played a lesser role, he was also involved in inflicting “murderous violence” on the teenager.

Dirty - the banks of the River Leven could do with a clean-up

The Black Bridge over the Leven and Caroline Glachan – the void her death has left that will never be filled, said the judge sentencing her killers.

He 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 journalists outside the court on Monday, Caroline’s mother Margaret McKeich said: “This is the day that I’ve been waiting for for 27 years. It was more than what I was hoping for, I’m really, really happy.

“I’m just sad that the other one [Donna Brand] 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.”

During ten days of evidence last month, the jury heard the trio repeatedly punched and kicked Caroline and threw bricks or other similar items at her, causing blunt force trauma to her head and body.

She was pushed or fell into undergrowth and her body was later discovered in the river at Place of Bonhill, Renton, on August 25 – the day of her mother’s 40th birthday.

Caroline Glachan, the three evil killers who murdered her (left to right) Robbie O’Brien, Donna Brand and Andrew Kelly, and [top of page] the place the schoolgirl died on the banks of the River Leven. Pictures by agencies and the Scottish SUN.