The mother of a Renton teenager who was brutally murdered 30 years ago said she will never be free from the void left by her daughter’s death as the last of the evil trio who did it was jailed for a minimum of 17 years.
Cruel Donna Marie Brand, 44, was found guilty in December in the High Court with Robert O’Brien, 45, and Andrew Kelly, 44, of 14-year-old schoolgirl Caroline Glachan, pictured right, in 1996.
Although the sentences against her two partners in crime were passed by Lord Braid at the conclusion of the trial, Brand’s case was continued until Monday on the grounds that she was ill and in hospital.
The grim details that unfolded before the trial judge and jury were that the threesome met up with Caroline at the Black Bridge over the River Leven between Renton and Bonhill late in the evening of August, 1996.
The meeting turned out to be a trap and Caroline was repeatedly punched and kicked, and had bricks thrown at her, causing blunt force trauma to her head and body.
What she expected was a meeting between young people, all of whom knew each other, and what she was confronted with was a rutal attack which culiminated with Caroline being left unconcious and face down in Scotland’s second fastest flowing river.
She had been bundled into undergrowth along the riverbank and her abandoned body was only discovered in the water at Place of Bonhill, Renton, later the same day – which sadly was her mother’s 40th birthday.
Donna Brand was jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum of 17 years when she was sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow on Monday.
O’Brien and Kelly were sentenced to life at the same court in January, with O’Brien ordered to serve a minimum of 22 years behind bars and Kelly handed a minimum of 18 years.
Speaking outside the court on Monday, Caroline’s mother Margaret McKeich said she was “pleased” at the sentence.
She said: “It was a good sentence and it was actually more than I was expecting, I’m quite pleased, now it’s like a weight lifted off my shoulders and as I’ve said before it’s not closure; it’s justice, we don’t get closure, it’s a void that will not ever be filled, so you don’t get closure.
“I’m pleased the way it went today.”
She said that she and Caroline’s father, who was also at the court, are both “serving a sentence as well, only ours doesn’t come to an end, we don’t get parole”.
Brand could not attend court for sentencing in January because she was in hospital and on Monday appeared via video link.
Judge Lord Braid said Brand had been convicted of a “brutal” murder, which was witnessed by two young children.
During the trial, forensic pathologist Dr Marjorie Turner told the court the 14-year-old was still alive when she went into the water and the ultimate cause of death was drowning.
Lord Braid said while Brand did not take part in the assault itself, she shared in responsibility for the crime because she left Caroline face down in the river while she was still alive and was part of a plan of “murderous violence”.
He said: “Caroline was a popular teenager. She was a lover of life. Due in part to you, she has been deprived of living that life.
“In addition, a daughter has been taken from her loving mother. She has been deprived of seeing the woman that Caroline would have become and taking pride in the potential Caroline could have fulfilled.
“No sentence I pass on you can possibly make up for that loss.”
Thomas Ross KC, representing Brand, said she was just 17 at the time of the murder and urged the judge to take note of sentencing guidelines for young people under 25 which recognise they may not have reached full maturity.
Lord Braid said he took into account Brand’s age and the fact that her overall responsibility for the schoolgirl’s death was less than that of the men when passing sentence.
However, Mrs McKeich, pictured right with her husband, said later while Brand was 17, her daughter was only 14.
She said: “Her [Brand’s] age means nothing to me, she knew what she was doing.”
He said O’Brien was the main perpetrator and used “extreme violence” on Caroline.
The judge said while Kelly played a lesser role, he was also involved in inflicting “murderous violence” on Caroline.