The brother of a Dundee student killed by her boyfriend has said he will “never be able to accept” what happened.
Jane Kelly was just 22 when she died at the hands of Mark Jarvie in 2011.
“I was in utter disbelief when I was told my sister had died,” Craig Kelly said.
“But when I realised she had been killed in such a barbaric and senseless way, I knew it was something I would never be able to accept.”
Jane, right, a former Dundee High School pupil who grew up in Wormit, was stabbed in the head and strangled to death by Jarvie at his family home in Powmill, while his parents were downstairs.
She was found lying face down on Jarvie’s bed, fully clothed. Jarvie was sitting on the floor naked with his hands round her neck.
Speaking publicly for the first time about the tragedy, Craig, 27, said: “At first all we knew was that Jane had died.
“I was at my grandparents’ house and my mum phoned to tell me. I stood at the top of the stairs shaking. I knew I would have to go to my dad’s house and tell him.
“I could’ve asked someone else to do it, but I felt like it was my responsibility and I knew it’s what Jane would’ve wanted.
“He kept asking questions, but I had no answers I was desperate to know what had happened too.”
The following day, the family was informed of Jarvie’s arrest on suspicion of murder but it was months later before full details of the incident were revealed in court.
Despite the jury agreeing Jarvie, now in Carstairs, killed Jane, he was acquitted on the grounds of insanity. Craig says he still remembers his feeling of shock as Jarvie walked into the courtroom.
“It was almost as if he had a smirk on his face,” he said.
“His eyes were dead he seemed to show no remorse for what he’d done. Despite his mental state, it doesn’t take away from the fact that a killing occurred.”
Jane, a student at Duncan of Jordanstone art department at Dundee University when she died, always dreamed of travelling to Russia.
Now Craig and dad Graeme will make the trip in her memory, visiting a number of countries and cities they previously visited with Jane along the way.
“This is our chance to reconnect with Jane and remember her for the person that she was, not for what happened to her,” Craig said.
“The places we are going to were very special to her and we’re going to visit art galleries along the way, just as she would have. It’s very much a personal journey for us.”