by BILL HEANEY
Donna Marie Brand was found guilty of murdering 14-year-old Caroline Glachan by brutally assaulting her and throwing her body into the swift-flowing River Leven in Renton, Dunbartonshire, in 1996.
Brand and co-accused Robert O’Brien and Andrew Kelly were convicted in 2023 after the evidence in the case was re-examined in 2019.
Brand, who was 47, died at Forth Valley Hospital on Wednesday.
She was sentenced to serve at least 17 years in prison in April 2024.
It is understood that Brand, who was serving her sentence in HMP and YOI Stirling, died of natural causes.
Caroline’s body was discovered on the banks of the River Leven in Renton on 25 August 1996.
The killers were all teenagers at the time of Caroline’s murder.
During the trial, the jury heard that Caroline was “infatuated” with O’Brien and left her home in Bonhill before midnight to meet him at a bridge on the River Leven.
Soon after she arrived, the teenager was subjected to what was described as a “horrific and violent attack”.
O’Brien was jailed for 22 years and Kelly for 18 years.
Kelly and Brand appealed their convictions last year, with Brand also appealing her sentence, but the appeals were denied.
Appeal judge Lord Carloway said: “It is not possible to categorise the punishment part as excessive for what was an evil concerted crime.”
Crimewatch UK
Police launched a major murder investigation in 1996, and the case twice featured on the BBC’s Crimewatch UK programme.
But a breakthrough eluded detectives until Police Scotland’s major investigation team re-examined the evidence in the summer of 2019.
It resulted in the arrests of O’Brien, Kelly and Brand in November 2021.
All three, together with the late Sarah Jane O’Neill, were suspects in 1996, but there was never enough evidence to arrest and charge them.
They all stuck to the same alibi and told officers they spent the night of the murder in a flat in Allan Crescent, Renton – less than a mile from where Caroline’s body was found.
A culture of fear about speaking out was also a factor, as O’Brien’s family had what police described as “a lot of control” in the area.
Margaret McKeich was in court for the trial of her daughter’s murderers.
Following the convictions, Caroline’s mother Margaret McKeich said: “For the past 25 years they have lived their lives and they have had their Christmases and birthdays and my Caroline was in the ground.
“This is a day we never thought we would see, and now I think Caroline can rest in peace.”
The trial was featured in the two-part BBC documentary, Murder Trial: Girl in the River.
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 is reported to the Procurator Fiscal. Fatal Accident Inquiries are held in due course.”