Glachan probe to examine 300 items for DNA
Advanced techniques could help solve 1996 murder of schoolgirl
SCOTLAND’S top forensic scientists are planning to re-examine hundreds of items of evidence in an attempt to solve the murder of a schoolgirl 20 years on.
More than 300 items, including clothing and samples from the crime scene, could be tested over the next few months as part of Police Scotland’s fresh bid to catch the killer of Caroline Glachan, 14, in Bonhill, West Dunbartonshire.
Her mother, Margaret McKeich, speaking at a press conference yesterday, said: “I would urge anybody to come forward, just to give me that peace and to give me closure.
“There’s two questions I need answered – who and why. Take a look back and have a think back and take a look in the mirror.
“Twenty years has passed – it’s a fair amount of time, but for me that’s just yesterday and I think 20 years is long enough.”
Mrs McKeich, 60, was speaking at a press conference in Bonhill Community Centre on the Ladyton estate, just yards from where Caroline was last seen.
She was heading to meet her boyfriend in Renton at 11.45pm, having spent the evening with friends, and took a shortcut from shops along Dillichip Loan towards The Towpath and the Black Bridge.
Despite extensive investigations, no-one has ever been arrested in connection with her murder.
Her mother said she is a “wee bit more hopeful than I’ve been for a long time” as police are carrying out fresh DNA tests on hundreds of pieces of evidence using advanced techniques.
Detective Superintendent Jim Kerr said DNA testing is “on a different planet” in terms of scientific advances since the items were first tested in 1996 and is “excited” abouttheadvantagesoffered.
He added: “There are people in this community that know exactly happened. I feel as if it is a black cloud over Renton and Bonhill and we need to get it lifted.”
Much of the evidence would have been submerged in water after Caroline’s body was found on the banks of the River Leven on August 25, 1996. Officers hope science will deliver answers that could not be provided during the original investigation.
Mr Kerr added: “We have met the forensic team with a view to make some incremental submissions to the lab to get fresh DNA testing done.”
Amanda Pirie, lead forensic scientist with the Scottish Police Authority, said new DNA profiling tests could get results from samples that forensic scientists were previously unable to interpret and could enable samples to be lifted from evidence immersed in water.
She said: “All of this combined will enable the cold case team potentially to recover and detect trace amounts of DNA which will, we hope, enable us to identify individuals with whom Caroline may have been in contact at or around the time of her death.”
Caroline’s best friend, Joanne Menzies, one of the last people to see the teenager alive, urged those “shielding” the killer to step up.
She said: “There are people who know who done it, who are shielding whoever done it, and I would ask these people to come forward.”
Police have also again asked for help in tracing a man in a hooded top who was seen standing about 30 yards from Caroline as she walked along Dillichip Loan at 12.15am on the night she was murdered.
Someone fitting the man’s description was seen about half an hour later running along the main street in Alexandria with another male.
Next Monday the murder will be spotlighted in the BBC’s Crimewatch programme.