A woman serving life in jail for the murder of schoolgirl Caroline Glachan has died two years into her sentence.
Donna Marie Brand lured the 14-year-old to the River Leven at Renton, Dunbartonshire, where she was beaten unconscious and left to drown.
In 2023, Brand and co-accused Robert O’Brien and Andrew Kelly were convicted for the 1996 murder, a verdict which brought to a close one of Scotland’s longest-running cold cases.
Brand died on Wednesday at Forth Valley Hospital, near Falkirk, at the age of 47. She was serving her sentence at HMP Stirling and is understood to have died of natural causes.
On August 25, 1996, Caroline’s body was discovered on the riverbank. Her killers were all teenagers at the time of the murder. The 14-year-old had been ‘infatuated’ with O’Brien, who at that point was 18 and had been warned to stay away from her by her mother.
Donna Marie Brand has died two years into her sentence
Schoolgirl Caroline Glachan was murdered in 1996
She left her home in Bonhill to meet him at a bridge on the River Leven, but she was savagely attacked after she arrived.
The evidence of a four-year-old boy, which was deemed not credible at the time but was later corroborated by other accounts, was crucial in bringing the three killers to justice.
O’Brien was sentenced to a minimum of 22 years, and Kelly for a minimum of 18.
With sentencing delayed due to ill health, Brand was told in April 2024 she must serve at least 17 years behind bars for her part in the murder.
After the guilty verdicts, Margaret McKeich, Caroline’s mother, said: ‘For the past 25 years they have lived their life and they’ve had their Christmases and their birthdays, and my Caroline was in the ground.’
A Scottish Prison Service spokesman said: ‘Following the death of someone in our care, Police Scotland are advised, and the matter reported to the Procurator Fiscal.
‘Fatal Accident Inquiries are held in due course.’
