One of the three people convicted of murdering 14-year-old Caroline Glachan nearly three decades ago has died while serving a life sentence.
Donna Marie Brand, 47, died on Wednesday at Forth Valley Hospital after being transferred there from HMP & YOI Stirling.
Authorities said her death was from natural causes.
Brand was one of three people eventually brought to justice for the brutal murder of Caroline, whose body was discovered on the banks of the River Leven in Renton, West Dunbartonshire, on August 25, 1996.
Caroline had left her home in Bonhill late at night to meet Robert O’Brien, with whom she was said to have been infatuated.
After arriving near a bridge by the river, the teenager was subjected to what prosecutors described as a horrific and violent attack by O’Brien, Brand and Andrew Kelly, who were themselves teenagers at the time.
Despite an extensive murder investigation and the case featuring twice on BBC Crimewatch UK, nobody was convicted for more than 25 years.
Detectives later said fear within the community had contributed to witnesses remaining silent.
Cold case investigation finally brought killers to justice
Police Scotland’s Major Investigation Team re-examined the case in 2019, eventually leading to O’Brien, Kelly and Brand being arrested in November 2021.
All three had been suspects during the original investigation but maintained a shared alibi that they had spent the night at a flat in Allan Crescent, less than a mile from where Caroline was found.
That account eventually unravelled.
Following a trial, all three were convicted of Caroline’s murder in 2023.
O’Brien was ordered to serve a minimum of 22 years, Kelly at least 18 years, while Brand was given a life sentence with a minimum term of 17 years, set in April 2024.
Kelly and Brand subsequently challenged their convictions, while Brand also appealed against her sentence. Their appeals were refused.
Lord Carloway said it was not possible to regard Brand’s punishment part as excessive for what he described as an “evil concerted crime.”
Caroline’s mother, Margaret McKeich, spoke of the decades her family had spent waiting for justice following the convictions.
She said the killers had been able to live their lives and celebrate birthdays and Christmases while her daughter was “in the ground”, adding that the convictions were a day the family had once thought they would never see.
Brand had been serving her life sentence at HMP & YOI Stirling before becoming unwell and being transferred to hospital, where she subsequently died.
Her death comes less than three years after she was finally convicted over a murder that remained unsolved for more than a quarter of a century.
