Caroline Glachan: Man denies seeing teen on the night of her murder

A man accused of murdering 14-year-old Caroline Glachan told jurors he did not see her the night he allegedly helped kill her.

Robert O'Brien denied there had been an arrangement to meet the Bonhill schoolgirl that night - despite claims she had left her best friend to catch up with him.

The 45 year-old, along with Andrew Kelly and Donna Marie Brand, both 44, are charged with murdering the teen at the River Leven in West Dunbartonshire on August 25 1996.

But, asked today by his lawyer Ian Duguid KC if he killed Caroline, O'Brien replied: "No, I did not."

O'Brien was giving evidence following the end of the prosecution case yesterday.

'Friends with benefits'

He told the trial at the High Court in Glasgow how he first met Caroline around a month and a half to two months before her death.

O'Brien went on to start a "relationship" with the schoolgirl describing it as "friends with benefits".

This was at a time he was also seeing co-accused Brand.

O'Brien said he did not initially know Caroline was 14. O'Brien was 17 or 18 at the time.

The trial earlier heard claims Caroline ended up "infatuated" with O'Brien, but he today did not agree with that.

His lawyer Mr Duguid asked: "You will have heard evidence from the best friend of Caroline - Joanne Menzies - that she was going to meet you.

"Did you have any arrangement to meet Caroline that night?"

O'Brien: "No."

Mr Duguid: "No arrangement at all?"

He replied: "None whatsoever."

O'Brien said he had been with Brand - she was later initially going to head home before they discovered they could go to a house where Kelly and his girlfriend Sarah Jane O'Neill were babysitting two boys.

'Did you see her later that night?'

Mr Duguid asked O'Brien if he had seen Caroline that day before going there.

He recalled "walking around the Leven" and the teenager "was there with all the girls".

O'Brien claimed he later learned Caroline had gone to see another individual, who he described as a local drug dealer.

Mr Duguid: "Did you see her later that night?"

O'Brien: "No."

The KC: "Did you see her down the river that night?"

He stated: "No, I did not."

O’Brien later stated today that he learned about a body being found in the River Leven when his younger brother told him on the afternoon of August 25.

The court again heard it was only in November 2021 that O'Brien was arrested.

Mr Duguid: "If you were living in the area for the best part of 25 or 26 years before this, you must have been aware of rumours.

"The rumours included you being a suspect?"

He replied: "Back in the day, yes."

Cross examination

O'Brien went on to be cross-examined by prosecutor Alex Prentice KC.

The advocate depute put to him: "The last time you saw Caroline Glachan was when she was face down in the River Leven and you left her?"

O'Brien: "I had nothing to do with that."

He was also quizzed about seeing both Caroline and Brand at the same time in 1996.

O'Brien then replied: "I was seeing about five girls."

Mr Prentice: "How did Donna feel about you going out with other girls?"

O'Brien: "I never told her."

Asked was Brand "happy" he had been in a relationship with Caroline, he said: "I do not think she knew."

Further questioning

Mr Prentice concluded by suggesting O'Brien and his "companions" had gone to the River Leven to meet Caroline that night.

The prosecutor: "What was the argument about?"

O'Brien: "There was no argument. We were not at the Leven."

Mr Prentice then asked had it been necessary to "inflict such terrible violence" on Caroline.

O'Brien: "I did not."

He also further denied today hitting Caroline on other occasions when they were together.

The trio deny murder. The trial, before judge Lord Braid, continues.

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