Brianna Ghey news - live: Scarlett Jenkinson’s family breaks silence as teen jailed with Eddie Ratcliffe
Two teenagers jailed for life for transphobic and sadistic killing of 16-year-old
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The family of teenager killer Scarlett Jenkinson has broken their silence as they said they have been living out their “worst nightmares”.
Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe stabbed 16-year-old Brianna Ghey 28 times with a hunting knife in a horrific attack on 11 February last year after luring her to Linear Park near Warrington.
The judge at Manchester Crown Court said the “exceptionally brutal” murder had elements of sadism by Jenkinson and transphobic hate by Ratcliffe.
Saying their lives were “in turmoil”, Jenkinson’s family thanked Brianna‘s mother Esther Ghey for her “incredible selflessness and empathy towards our family”.
In a statement to the Warrington Guardian, Scarlett Jenkinson’s family said: “All of our thoughts are for Brianna and her family.
“The last 12 months have been beyond our worst nightmares as we have come to realise the brutal truth of Scarlett’s actions.”
The four-week trial heard the pair, who were 15, had a fascination with violence, torture and serial killers, with Jenkinson wanting to keep a part of Brianna’s flesh as a “token”.
Jenkinson was jailed for a minimum term of 22 years, and Ratcliffe 20.
A crumpled, hand-written note of an alleged “murder plan” to kill transgender teenager Brianna Ghey was found on the bedroom floor of one of her killers.
Notes were also made on serial killers including Jeffrey Dahmer, Richard Ramirez and Harold Shipman in a black Pukka notebook when police searched the home of Girl X.
Among handwritten notes was a spider diagram, drawn with the words good and evil in the middle of it.
The crumpled note found on the floor was headed “Saturday, 11th February,2023. Victim Brianna Ghey” with the word “plan” written underneath and underlined.
The note read: “Meet [Boy Y] at wooden posts 1pm. Walk down to library, bus stop. Wait until Brianna gets off bus, then the 3 of us walk to Linear Park. Go to the pipe/tunnel area.
“I say code word to [Boy Y]. He stabs her in the back as I stab her in stomach. [Boy Y] drags the body into the area. We both cover up the area with logs etc.”
A smiley face and a heart shape was also drawn on the top right-hand corner of the note.
Teenage murderers of Brianna Ghey can be named
Murderers of teenager Brianna Ghey will be named by the media when they are sentenced, a judge has ruled.
Mrs Justice Yip ordered the press can identify the teens responsible for the “frenzied and ferocious” attack on Brianna, 16, stabbed with a hunting knife 28 times in her head, neck, chest and back after being lured to Linear Park, Culcheth, a village near Warrington, Cheshire, on the afternoon of February 11.
Her killers both tried to blame each other for the stabbing but were both found guilty of murder by a jury at Manchester Crown Court following a four week trial.
Read the full article here
Teenage murderers of Brianna Ghey can be named, judge rules
An order banning identification will be lifted after representations on behalf of the media made by the PA news agency and ITV.
Blood found on the trainer and jacket of Boy Y
Blood from transgender teenager Brianna Ghey, who was stabbed 28 times in a “frenzied” knife attack, was found on the trainers and jacket of Boy Y.
The youth claimed he came into contact with Brianna after seeing her being stabbed by his accomplice Girl X and then checking whether she was still alive as she lay on the ground.
Brianna’s blood was found on boy Y’s trainers and black ski-jacket, and on a hunting knife found in his bedroom at his home, the jury was told.
Brianna suffered un-survivable injuries to her head, neck, chest, back and sides in the “sustained and violent assault” after being lured to Linear Park in Culcheth, near Warrington on February 11.
Kills lists, Sweeney Todd and the dark web: how torture-obsessed teens plotted Brianna Ghey’s murder
A teenage girl with a fascination for serial killers watched her favourite film Sweeney Todd as she and a teenage boy put the finishing touches to a meticulous plan for a brutal murder.
The following day, the girl lured transgender teenager Brianna Ghey to a park in Culcheth, near Warrington, having already tried and failed to kill the 16-year-old with an overdose of ibuprofen. In a frenzied attack, the young killers stabbed Brianna 28 times with a hunting knife, the first victim from their “kill list” of at least five child targets.
Now convicted of Brianna’s murder following a four-week trial at Manchester Crown Court, the pair are facing mandatory jail terms for life.
Read the full article from Tara Cobham here
How a serial killer-obsessed teenage girl plotted Brianna Ghey’s brutal murder
Girl who called herself a Satanist began to fantasise about killing people from as young as age 14, Tara Cobham writes
Killers were intelligent, from normal backgrounds and had no previous convictions
Intelligent, “high functioning” and coming from normal backgrounds, the trial heard the pair had a fascination with violence, torture and murder and a “thirst for killing”.
Neither had been in trouble with police before.
They had discussed Brianna’s murder for weeks, detailed in a handwritten murder plan and phone messages found by detectives.
Jurors were told it was “difficult to fathom” how the two child defendants could carry out such a disturbing crime.
Was Brianna Ghey’s murder a transphobic hate crime?
The frenzied fatal stabbing of a transgender teenager in a public park on a Saturday afternoon led to worldwide protests and vigils against perceived transphobia.
But Brianna Ghey was not murdered by two teens, identified only as girl X and boy Y, because she was transgender, detectives believe.
The four-week trial at Manchester Crown Court heard boy Y used ‘dehumanising’ language, talking about Brianna, referring to her as an ‘it’ and referring to her as a “tranny” or “femboy.”
But it will ultimately be up to the trial judge Mrs Justice Yip to decide if hatred of transgender people played any part in her death.
Read the full article here
Was Brianna Ghey’s murder a transphobic hate crime?
Brianna Ghey, 16, was a transgender teen stabbed to death in a frenzied knife attack in a park
James Bulger’s mother says it is right to name teenage killers
The mother of James Bulger, a two-year-old boy murdered by two other children in 1993, has said it is right Brianna’s killers are identified as parents “need a picture to the name”.
She told ITV News: “I think they need a picture to the name. You can’t just have a name and not know what they look like.
“I wanted to know what James’ killers looked like. You want to see the faces that took your child away from you. You want to see the faces that spent the last few minutes with your child. I don’t think I would have been able to carry on not knowing what they looked like.
“What’s the point in telling half a story? You want to know what these people look like that took this child’s life away.”
Why can Brianna Ghey’s killers be named?
Following their convictions in December, a hearing took place at Manchester Crown Court where a judge agreed to lift their anonymity.
Children appearing in youth or crown courts either as a victim, defendant or witness generally cannot be identified unless there are exceptional circumstances to warrant it.
Throughout their trial, the two 16-year-olds, who were aged 15 at the time of the murder, were identified only as Girl X and Boy Y by the media.
However, journalists made representations ahead of their sentencing arguing for their identities to be exposed, given the harrowing and horrific nature of their crimes.
This was despite their legal teams citing possible welfare concerns and death threats received by Girl X’s family.
However, Mrs Justice Yip said there was “a strong public interest in the full and unrestricted reporting of what is plainly an exceptional case”.
She added: “The public will naturally wish to know the identities of the young people responsible as they seek to understand how children could do something so dreadful.
“Continuing restrictions inhibits full and informed debate and restricts the full reporting of the case.”
Brianna Ghey’s headteacher pays tribute to ‘fearless’ student
Brianna Ghey’s family pictured arriving at court
The family of murdered teenager Brianna Ghey have been seen arriving at Manchester Crown Court, ahead of the sentencing hearing for her killers.
Her mother Esther Ghey has previously branded the two teen killers as “cowards” and called for their jail term to be “as long as possible”.
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