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.
Brianna Ghey’s killers Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe arrested for murder
Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe stabbed the transgender schoolgirl 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.
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.
Welcome to our live coverage
Welcome to our live coverage of the sentencing of Brianna Ghey’s two teenage killers.
We’ll be bringing you all the latest updates here.
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 on Wednesday were both found guilty of murder by a jury at Manchester Crown Court following a four week trial.
Read the full reasons why 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.
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
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
Brianna Ghey’s mother brands killers ‘cowards’ and calls for compassion towards their families
Brianna Ghey’s mother fought back tears as she branded her daughter’s murderers “cowards” and called for the public to be “compassionate” towards their families.
Esther Ghey said “I don’t know whether justice will ever be done” as she called for her daughter’s killers’ minimum jail terms to be “as long as possible”.
An emotional Ms Ghey told ITV1’s Good Morning Britain programme: “It would be nice to have her back home. That would be justice for me but obviously, that isn’t going to happen.”
Read the full article here
Brianna Ghey’s mother calls killers cowards and calls for compassion towards families
Brianna, 16, was stabbed 28 times with a hunting knife to her head, neck and chest after she was lured to a park near Warrington last year
I’m a psychologist – this is why children kill
One thing that is blatantly clear in the murder of 15-year-old Brianna Ghey is that her teenage murderers, whose names will be released in their sentencing, were obsessed with murder, violence, gore, and torture.
The court heard that these materials, websites and forums were all accessed online and from globally available media outlets.
It reminds me very much of the evidence surrounding the murder of two-year-old James Bulger in 1993 by two 10-year-olds, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson. The court heard then too, how the boys had watched and then acted out murderous scenes from Child’s Play 3, a film about a violent doll who became possessed by a serial killer and tortured victims.
Read the full article from Dr Jessica Taylor here
I’m a psychologist – this is why children kill | Dr Jessica Taylor
Kids copy so much from online media: fashion, make-up tutorials, TikTok dances, accents, phrases and beliefs. And, argues Dr Jessica Taylor in the wake of Brianna Ghey’s horrific stabbing – murder and violence, too...
Brianna Ghey's headteacher pays tribute to 'determined and fearless' student
Brianna Ghey’s mother remembers murdered daughter’s ‘fearlessness’
“Fearless” is the word those who knew Brianna Ghey reach for when paying tribute to the transgender teenager, as they try to grapple with her brutal killing.
The 16-year-old’s mother has celebrated her fearlessness in being “whoever she wanted to be”, while the schoolgirl’s headteacher, Emma Mills, described her as “loud and proud and confident in who she was”. A boy and a girl were this week convicted of her murder following the fatal knife attack in a Cheshire Park in February.
Brianna’s mother, Esther Ghey, has also praised the “outstanding” trans community for their support following her daughter’s death, which led to an outpouring of grief earlier this year.
Read the full article here
Brianna Ghey’s mum praises trans community support after ‘fearless’ daughter’s murder
‘I’m trying to be a bit more like Brianna because she was happy being who she was,’ teen’s mother says
Chilling doorbell footage shows Brianna Ghey leaving home hours before she was stabbed to death
Doorbell footage shows Brianna Ghey leaving home before she was stabbed to death
Footage showing Brianna Ghey leaving her home hours before she was stabbed to death in Culcheth Linear Park, near Warrington, on 11 February 2023 has been released. Ms Ghey, dressed in a large white hoodie, leaves her house whilst texting on her phone. She closes a wooden gate behind her as she leaves to meet the two defendants, identified only as Girl X and Boy Y, who are accused of luring Brianna to the park as part of a handwritten plan to murder the 16-year-old transgender girl. Police released the chilling doorbell footage on Wednesday 29 November, the same week the murder trial began at Manchester Crown Court.
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