Footage shows Brianna Ghey leaving home before she was ‘murdered by two teenagers’

Published

2 years ago

November 30, 2023

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Jurors have been shown footage of Brianna Ghey leaving home before she was allegedly murdered by two teenagers.

A doorbell camera captured the 16-year-old, who was transgender, as she left home for the last time on 11 February before she was stabbed 28 times with a hunting knife in her head, chest, back and neck.

Two 16-year-olds, who can only be identified as girl X and boy Y, are on trial at Manchester Crown Court accused of murdering Brianna in Culcheth Linear Park near Warrington in Cheshire on 11 February.

Prosecutor Deanna Heer KC described Brianna’s “distinctive look” as she left her house with long red hair and glasses, wearing a fluffy white hooded jacket, a short grey tartan skirt and white over-the-knee socks, while carrying a checked shoulder bag.

Brianna can be seen using her phone and the court heard she sent a message to her mother Esther Ghey saying: “I’m leaving to go see [girl X]” and “dogs are locked up”.

CCTV footage shows her walking to the bus stop where she gets on the number 28 on her way to meet girl X and boy Y, who were both 15 at the time.

Driver Kieran Mercer said in a statement read in court there was “something odd about her” and “she was going out of her way not to be seen”.

He described her as “very timid, very quietly spoken and very delicate”, adding: “She just gave the impression she was someone who wanted to be left alone.”

Jurors were shown a picture Brianna sent to her mother of the inside of the bus and a message which said: “I’m on the bus by myself, I’m scared”.

Ms Ghey said in a statement read in court she replied “that’s well good” as “I was really proud of her”, telling jurors in a statement her daughter didn’t go out much because of her anxiety.

“I don’t think she ever saw it because it showed as being delivered but it didn’t turn blue,” she added.

The court heard Brianna was last captured on a doorbell camera with girl X and boy Y heading towards Culcheth Linear Park shortly after 2pm.

Both defendants deny murder and blame each other for her death.

Girl X ‘tried to kill Brianna with overdose’

The court heard weeks before Brianna’s death, girl X gave her an overdose of ibuprofen gel tablets, telling boy Y in a message on 23 January “that should have been enough to kill her”.

But girl X said that although Brianna had messaged to say “I feel so bad” and “Oh my god I just threw up and it’s the colour of Fanta”, she “didn’t die”, in messages read out by prosecutor Deanna Heer KC.

The court heard girl X also talked about a potential plan to put toilet cleaner and ibuprofen gel in a McDonalds milkshake, and she claimed to have already killed two people, prompting boy Y to say: “You’re one kill away from being a serial killer.”

Prosecutors have told the jury girl X and boy Y’s messages show the defendants were “preoccupied” with torture, murder and death, but there is no evidence they acted on their words before 23 January.

In a statement read to jurors by junior prosecutor Cheryl Mottram, Brianna’s mother said she remembered one occasion not long before the teenager’s death when her daughter was “really sick”.

She said Brianna appeared to be in “real pain” and was “screaming and crying for me to help her” after she got home from work and went into the kitchen to make tea.

“She was in her bedroom rolling around in agony, holding her stomach,” Ms Ghey said.

“She was writhing around in pain screaming, ‘I think I’m going to die’. It was quite frightening.”

Ms Ghey said she thought Brianna might have appendicitis and when she went to get her phone, her daughter said: “Don’t leave me, don’t leave me.”

She said Brianna was sick all over her bedroom floor, with what appeared to be “grape skins” in the clear liquid, before her condition improved.

Ms Ghey said her daughter “generally stayed in” because of her anxiety but would sometimes go to McDonalds with girl X.

She said Brianna was usually at home by the time she got back from work, adding: “I don’t know how often they spent time together, where they went or what they did.”

Ms Ghey told the jury it was “a blur” after police told her about Brianna’s death.

Only girl X was in court today, with boy Y appearing by video-link from his secure accommodation unit.

Trial judge Mrs Justice Yip told the jury they may notice that boy Y is playing with a fidget or tangle toy, or he may have a crossword book with him, which experts have told her helps him concentrate – and girl X has similar devices.

The trial continues.

UK

Diogo Jota: Liverpool players join mourners as Premier League star and his brother Andre Silva buried in Portugal

Published

8 hours ago

July 5, 2025

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Diogo Jota: Liverpool players join mourners as Premier League star and his brother Andre Silva buried in Portugal

Liverpool players past and present have joined the family and friends of Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva for their funeral in Portugal.

A service was held in the Igreja Matriz de Gondomar church in their hometown of Gondomar near Porto in northern Portugal on Saturday morning.

Mourners lined the streets and some in the crowd clapped as the brothers’ coffins were carried into the church.

The funeral – in pictures

Jota, 28, leaves behind his wife of only 11 days, Rute Cardoso, and three young children.

His younger brother, 25, was an attacking midfielder for Penafiel in the second tier of Portuguese football.

Liverpool manager Arne Slot, captain Virgil Van Dijk and teammates including Andy Robertson, Conor Bradley, Ryan Gravenberch, Cody Gakpo, Curtis Jones, Darwin Nunez and Joe Gomez were seen at the service.

Former teammates Jordan Henderson, James Milner and Fabinho were also there.

Van Dijk carried a red wreath with Jota’s number 20, while Robertson had a wreath featuring number 30, Silva’s number at Penafiel.

Some of Jota’s teammates in the Portuguese national side also attended, including Bruno Fernandes, of Manchester United, Ruben Dias and Bernardo Silva, of Manchester City, Joao Felix and Renato Veiga, of Chelsea, Nelson Semedo, from Wolves, Joao Moutinho and Rui Patricio.

Ruben Neves was one of the pallbearers after flying in from Florida where he played for Al Hilal in the Club World Cup quarter-final on Friday night.

‘More than a friend’

In a post published on Instagram before the service, he told Jota he had been “more than a friend, we’re family, and we won’t stop being that way just because you’ve decided to sign a contract a little further away from us!”

Jota’s fellow Liverpool midfielder, Alexis Mac Allister, said on Instagram: “I can’t believe it. I’ll always remember your smiles, your anger, your intelligence, your camaraderie, and everything that made you a person. It hurts so much; we’ll miss you. Rest in peace, dear Diogo.”

Porto FC president Andre Villas-Boas and Portugal national team manager Roberto Martinez were also in attendance.

‘With us forever’

Speaking after the ceremony, Martinez said the period since their deaths had been “really, really sad days, as you can imagine, but today we showed we are a large, close family.

“Their spirit will be with us forever.”

The service was private, but the words spoken by the Bishop of Porto, Manuel Linda, were broadcast to those standing outside the church.

He told Jota’s children, who were not at the service, that he was praying for them specifically, as well as their mother and grandparents.

“There are no words, but there are feelings,” he said, adding: “We also suffer a lot and we are with you emotionally.”

The brothers died after a Lamborghini they were travelling in burst into flames following a suspected tyre blowout in the early hours of Thursday morning.

No other vehicles are said to have been involved in the incident.

Liverpool have delayed the return of their players for pre-season following Jota’s death and players past and present paid tribute to him and his brother on social media.

Flowers have been left outside Anfield, where flags have been lowered to half-mast and all club shops, museums and tours have been closed until Monday.

UK

Rachel Reeves hints at tax rises in autumn budget after welfare bill U-turn

Published

11 hours ago

July 5, 2025

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Rachel Reeves hints at tax rises in autumn budget after welfare bill U-turn

Rachel Reeves has hinted that taxes are likely to be raised this autumn after a major U-turn on the government’s controversial welfare bill.

Sir Keir Starmer’s Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill passed through the House of Commons on Tuesday after multiple concessions and threats of a major rebellion.

MPs ended up voting for only one part of the plan: a cut to universal credit (UC) sickness benefits for new claimants from £97 a week to £50 from 2026/7.

Initially aimed at saving £5.5bn, it now leaves the government with an estimated £5.5bn black hole – close to breaching Ms Reeves’s fiscal rules set out last year.

In an interview with The Guardian, the chancellor did not rule out tax rises later in the year, saying there were “costs” to watering down the welfare bill.

“I’m not going to [rule out tax rises], because it would be irresponsible for a chancellor to do that,” Ms Reeves told the outlet.

“We took the decisions last year to draw a line under unfunded commitments and economic mismanagement.

“So we’ll never have to do something like that again. But there are costs to what happened.”

Meanwhile, The Times reported that, ahead of the Commons vote on the welfare bill, Ms Reeves told cabinet ministers the decision to offer concessions would mean taxes would have to be raised.

The outlet reported that the chancellor said the tax rises would be smaller than those announced in the 2024 budget, but that she is expected to have to raise tens of billions more.

It comes after Ms Reeves said she was “totally” up to continuing as chancellor after appearing tearful at Prime Minister’s Questions.

Criticising Sir Keir for the U-turns on benefit reform during PMQs, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the chancellor looked “absolutely miserable”, and questioned whether she would remain in post until the next election.

Sir Keir did not explicitly say that she would, and Ms Badenoch interjected to say: “How awful for the chancellor that he couldn’t confirm that she would stay in place.”

In her first comments after the incident, Ms Reeves said she was having a “tough day” before adding: “People saw I was upset, but that was yesterday.

“Today’s a new day and I’m just cracking on with the job.”

Sir Keir also told Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby on Thursday that he “didn’t appreciate” that Ms Reeves was crying in the Commons.

“In PMQs, it is bang, bang, bang,” he said. “That’s what it was yesterday.

“And therefore, I was probably the last to appreciate anything else going on in the chamber, and that’s just a straightforward human explanation, common sense explanation.”

UK

Diogo Jota and Andre Silva’s funeral in pictures

Published

13 hours ago

July 5, 2025

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Diogo Jota and Andre Silva's funeral in pictures

The family and friends of Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva have been joined by Liverpool stars past and present and other Portuguese players at the pair’s funeral near Porto.

The Liverpool forward, 28, and his brother died in a car crash in Spain on Thursday.

Pictures below show the funeral at the Igreja Matriz de Gondomar church in the town of Gondomar near Porto. Click here for our liveblog coverage of the day’s events.