A mother and daughter have described how their evidence, overlooked by detectives in 1996, played a key role in bringing the three killers of schoolgirl Caroline Glachan to justice.
Caroline, 14, was found dead in the River Leven in August 1996 after walking from her home in Bonhill, West Dunbartonshire, to nearby Renton late at night. She had been savagely attacked, beaten and left for dead in the water, suffering multiple head and face injuries including skull fractures.
Wall of silence around the murder
At the time, police encountered a wall of silence around the murder. Locals were afraid to come forward because one of the killers was the stepson of a senior member of a notorious local crime family, the Jennings. It was one of the reasons it took another 27 years before Robbie O'Brien, 45, Andrew Kelly, 44, and Donna Marie Brand, also 44, were brought to justice. All three were teenagers at the time of the murder and lived in Renton.
In a new television documentary, Murder Next Door: The Girl in the Water, eyewitnesses Linda Dorrian and daughter Emma McGinley said their evidence was overlooked by detectives in 1996. At the time of the murder, the three suspects were babysitting in a neighbour's house in Renton's Allan Crescent. Linda saw the trio leave the house at midnight with two young children, and both she and Emma, then ten, saw them return an hour later — around the time Caroline's murder had taken place.
Witnesses heard arguing on return
On their return, the mother and daughter could hear the three arguing and shouting as if something had gone wrong. Linda said: "There was a female crying it was more like a howl. It was clear that something had happened." However, the three suspects told police they never left the house that night, an alibi detectives were unable to break at the time.
Though Linda was briefly spoken to by police at the time of the murder, the call was never followed up even though her home was very close to where the trio were babysitting. During a cold case review of the unsolved murder in 2020 by Police Scotland, a decision was taken to re-interview everyone who had lived in Allan Crescent at the time of Caroline's murder — including Linda and Emma.
Linda recalls the time the detectives came back to her door almost 25 years later. She explained: "I was getting ready to go out and the door went it was the police. I just said what took you so long? Where have you been? I have been waiting for that door to be chapped for many years. Why have you taken so long - you know who was involved." The cops then told Linda that the suspects had an alibi.
Statements proved crucial
Linda continued: "I said: Can I ask what is their alibi? They had an alibi to say they never left the house. Well I said I'd seen them leaving..I thought why would they be taking a child out at this time of night, that's what brought me to the window. I'd seen them leaving and I'd seen them coming back and they said did you tell the police that and I said they never asked.."
Linda says the police did not do their job properly in 1996. She continued: "It was said that witnesses weren't coming forward, but I did. It took a lot to speak up because I had to live in that area..Everyone knew who was involved - the talk was at the time why is the police not doing anything? Why have they not got the answers? Why have they not charged these people? Why are these people still walking the streets. The feeling was that these people were being protected."
Emma, who was ten at the time of Caroline's murder, said: "I don't really know what the fallout could be from speaking up. It's hard and it does haunt me still."
Convictions and sentencing
The witness statements of both Linda and Emma proved crucial, and O'Brien, Brand and Kelly were charged with her murder in 2021. In December 2023, all three were found guilty at the High Court in Glasgow. A fourth suspect, Sarah Jane O'Neil, died before she was able to be charged. In January 2024, the three were sentenced to life in prison. Brand died in August this year at HMP Stirling.
Caroline had been in a relationship with 18-year-old O'Brien when she was murdered. The trial heard how Brand "threatened to batter" her after she found out O'Brien was seeing both of them. Ringleader O'Brien and accomplice Kelly were told they must serve minimum terms of 22 years and 18 years before they can be considered for parole. On the night of her murder, Caroline had left her home in Bonhill to meet O'Brien in Renton. She was attacked and left for dead after she was confronted by the trio on the river path.
Former senior detective Michael McCarron, who took part in the reinvestigation of Caroline Glachan's murder, said: "We are in this job to bring justice to people who have been wronged. This is a murder that should really have been solved in 1996."
Murder Next Door: The Girl in the Water will be shown Sunday 22nd November, at 9pm on Sky Crime.
