Murder Trial: Girl in the River

The first two-parter, ‘Girl in the River’, follows one of the nation’s biggest cold cases – the murder of Caroline Glachan, a Scottish schoolgirl who never came home.

Now, three suspects stand accused of brutally killing the 14-year-old, more than two decades after her body was found, face down in the River Leven, Dunbartonshire. Shocking revelations unfold in court as Caroline’s family seek justice in one of Scotland’s most haunting cold cases.

On the 24th August 1996, Caroline Glachan was violently assaulted before being left in the river. Some 27 years later, Robert O’Brien, Andrew Kelly and Donna Marie Brand stand accused of her murder at the High Court in Glasgow.

The original police investigation was hampered by an unwillingness to cooperate with the police and only re-opened in 2019. Throughout that time, Caroline’s heartbroken mother, Margaret McKeich, kept fighting for the truth about who murdered her only child.

“Hope. Hope is the only thing that I have got and I hope that I get some kind of justice for Caroline,” says Margaret. “…it’s going to be a hard trial, it’s going to be hard to hear and see things but I’m going to be there because I feel, as Caroline’s mother, I’ve got to be there. I’ve waited long enough for it. I just thought that this was a day that would never come.”

As the jury discover, Robert ‘Robbie’ O’Brien was 18-years-old in 1996 and in a relationship with Caroline as well as his co-accused, Donna Marie Brand who was pregnant with his child. The crown suggest O’Brien and his friends lured Caroline to her death whilst they were babysitting four-year-old local boy ‘Archie’ on that fateful night. The defence, meanwhile, argue that the friends never left the house and played no part in Caroline’s murder.

Featuring interviews with Caroline’s mother and testimony from her friends, Murder Trial: Girl In The River also hears from DCI Stuart Grainger the SIO on the case as well as testimony from the mother of key witness ‘Archie’.

As the truth begins to emerge in this gripping murder trial, shocking revelations and chilling details unfold for the very first time, shedding light on a crime that’s proved impossible to solve.

Both episodes available from Tuesday 28 January on BBC iPlayer