Caroline Glachan: Jury urged to convict three over 1996 murder
- Published
Three people have gone on trial accused of murdering Caroline Glachan
A jury has been urged to convict three people of the "brutal" murder of a 14-year-old girl in 1996.
In closing speeches at the High Court in Glasgow, prosecutors said Caroline Glachan was left to drown in the River Leven in Renton, West Dunbartonshire.
Robert O'Brien, 45, Andrew Kelly and Donna Marie Brand, both 44, deny murder.
Mr O'Brien's lawyer said the case took so long to come to trial because people "decided to change their evidence".
Jurors were previously told the three were arrested in November 2021 and have each lodged a special defence of alibi.
The trial heard that Mr O'Brien was in a relationship with Caroline at the time of her death. He was around four years older.
The teenager was said to have left her best friend that night to go and see Mr O'Brien, who was known as Robbie.
Prosecutor Alex Prentice KC said: "Caroline Glachan was an excited 14-year-old girl wanting to meet 18-year-old Robbie O'Brien on the Black Bridge at the River Leven.
"What she was looking forward to turned out to be a horrific and brutal attack and [she was] left to drown in the River Leven."
Police divers pulled Caroline's body from the River Leven in August 1996
The prosecutor said the evidence in the two-week trial presented a "compelling and convincing case".
The advocate depute said Mr O'Brien attacked Caroline with a blunt instrument and "inflicted the 10 or so blows causing her to fall in the water and to drown".
"He is guilty of murder, nothing less," Mr Prentice added.
He said Mr Kelly and Ms Brand had acted "in concert" with O'Brien in plotting to harm Caroline.
He added: "I do not suggest that they plotted to murder Caroline Glachan.
"I suggest that what was intended was a confrontation of some kind which involved violence."
Mr Prentice said the evidence of Archie Wilson - then aged four and half in 1996 - was "pivotal" to the Crown case.
He did not testify, but his mother Elizabeth Wilson recalled him saying he had been taken down to the river that night, saw a "lassie" get "battered" and fall into the water.
Mr Kelly and Ms Brand insisted they had been at Ms Wilson's home at the time of the killing.
Jurors also heard from Mr O'Brien's lawyer, Ian Duguid KC.
He claimed there was a trial 27 years after the murder because some "people in the community" where the death occurred had "decided to change their evidence" from the time.
Mr Duguid suggested the jury was being asked to "close the book" on the case after all these years and convict someone of Caroline's murder.
The trial, before judge Lord Braid, continues.