The man who found the battered body of murdered schoolgirl Caroline Glachan says the experience still lives with him after more than 30 years.
Fourteen-year-old Caroline was discovered face down in the River Leven with her training shoes by her side. She had been attacked there and badly beaten only hours earlier.
She had been attacked while walking from her home in Bonhill, West Dunbartonshire to the nearby town of Renton around midnight to meet her boyfriend, 18-year-old Robbie O'Brien.
The Discovery in August 1996
The discovery was in August 1996, by local man Danny Mullin who had been out cycling with friends that morning. Danny has relived that day in a new television documentary 'Murder Next Door: The Girl in the Water'.
Danny said: "I come here every day. Every time I look in the water I see that wee lassies' head. I didn't know Caroline that day. I didn't know she was going to be a big part of my life after that.
"That wee lassie, she didn't know her life was going to end that day. I don't know if I was put on this earth to find that wean."
A Body Pointed Out by a Fisherman
Danny says a man out fishing pointed out Caroline's body in the water to him. He then stood on his bike to get a better view.
Danny added: "I went down and the person was all dressed in black and her wee hand was in the air and the water was going over her hair."
At this point he spotted a pair of trainers nearby on the embankment which he picked up and then put down. He added: "One of my pals went that's Caroline Glachan, that looks like her trainers. they're new."
Former Police Diver's Account
Former police diver Sergeant Jim McMeekin tells the documentary that Caroline's body could have been washed away if it hadn't been found when it was. He added: "She wasn't full submerged. She was actually touching the bottom of the river and her back was above the surface.
"The likelihood is that the current would have taken the body and washed her right down the river. It is one of the fastest flowing rivers in Scotland.
"It is possible for the body to drift a long way, somewhere out near Ireland. The body was secured very quickly and made the recovery much easier being in shallow waters. Once you turned her over you could see it was a very young girl involved."
Conviction in 2023
Caroline's killers Robbie O'Brien, Donna Marie Brand, and Andrew Kelly remained at large until they were found guilty of her murder in December 2023, at the High Court in Glasgow. They had been arrested two years earlier after a cold case review by Police Scotland.
Murder Next Door: The Girl in the Water will be shown Sunday, November 22, at 9pm on Sky Crime.
