Brianna Ghey: How teenagers with a ‘thirst for death and murder’ plotted killing on their phones

Published

2 years ago

December 20, 2023

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When Brianna Ghey left home on 11 February, she thought she was going to meet a friend. But in what detectives described as the “ultimate betrayal”, the 16-year-old had been lured from her house that Saturday afternoon by a girl with “murderous intent”.

A little more than two hours later Brianna, who was transgender, was stabbed 28 times in her head, neck and back with a hunting knife in Linear Park in Culcheth, near Warrington.

In the weeks before her murder two 15-year-olds, known only as girl X and boy Y, had meticulously planned the killing as they exchanged thousands of texts and WhatsApp messages.

Manchester Crown Court heard the killers shared “dark thoughts” and talked about their fascination with serial killers, violence, torture and death.

As their conversations moved from horror films and Sweeney Todd to thoughts of murder, they compiled a “kill list” including Brianna and four other children.

In one exchange they discussed how they could kill one boy by hanging, but girl X said: “If we can’t get [him] tomorrow we can kill Brianna.”

She said she was “obsessed” with Brianna, while boy Y referred to her as “it” in what Cheshire Police Detective Chief Superintendent Mike Evans called “transphobic messages”.

But he said no motive has been identified for the murder and believes it was simply Brianna’s “availability and accessibility” that made her the victim that day, adding: “This was about murderous intent for anyone.”

“They had a real thirst for death and for murder,” he said. “We believe that there were others possibly who it would’ve been had it not been Brianna.”

‘So I bring my knife’

Jurors were told girl X boasted of giving Brianna an overdose of ibuprofen gel in the weeks before her death.

Her mother Esther Ghey remembered she was “really sick”, adding: “She was writhing around in pain screaming, ‘I think I’m going to die’.”

In another exchange, girl X told boy Y that Brianna, from Birchwood, Warrington, had agreed to meet and he replied: “So I bring my knife.”

Girl X said: “Yes, is it definitely sharp enough btw,” then: “Meet me at the wooden posts in Linear at 12, we’ll go over plan again and I’ll show you where I’m killing her and then we both walk to the library to meet her.

“And grab onto Brianna, slit her throat, when she starts to fall stab her in the back then pass me knife. I want to stab her at least once even if she’s dead jus coz its fun lol.”

Brianna didn’t keep the arrangement on 28 January because of a family birthday but after agreeing to another meeting two weeks later girl X told boy Y she was “excited af” – meaning as f*** – the night before the killing.

CCTV footage shows Brianna getting on the bus to meet the pair and looking at her phone when she sent her mother a message saying: “I’m on the bus by myself, I’m scared”.

“That’s well good,” her mother replied. She told the jury she “was really proud of her” as she didn’t go out much because of her anxiety, but doesn’t think her daughter ever read the message.

‘Murder plan’ found in bedroom

“I think this was the ultimate betrayal of someone she considered to be a friend who has lured her out of her house,” said Det Ch Supt Evans. “She thought she had a friend and actually that friend was planning to kill her.”

In the hours after the stabbing, girl X shared a tribute to “amazing friend” Brianna online and told her mother and police the victim had left the park with a young man from Manchester.

But she and boy Y were arrested within 24 hours of Brianna’s body being found by walkers and detectives said they seemed “quite timid but assured” until they realised the weight of the evidence against them.

A knife and blood-soaked clothes were found in boy Y’s bedroom.

A crumpled handwritten note described as a “murder plan”, was found on the floor of girl X’s bedroom with the heading: “Saturday, 11th February, 2023. Victim Brianna Ghey.”

With a smiley face and a heart in the top corner, the note said: “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.”

“They thought they could take another human life and they thought there wouldn’t be any comeuppance for them and they’d never get caught,” said Det Ch Supt Evans.

“Really, their downfall has been their confidence or arrogance.”

A ‘deadly influence on each other’

The officer described both killers as “high-functioning intelligent children”, although their age and mental health issues meant they were afforded special measures in court, including fidget toys and a schedule similar to a school day.

Articulate girl X, who was said to have “traits” of autism and ADHD, told the jury she had seen boy Y stabbing Brianna five or six times after hearing screams.

Boy Y, who gradually stopped talking following his arrest and was diagnosed with autism and selective mutism, typed his evidence, claiming he had given his knife to girl X, who had stabbed Brianna.

After the pair, who are now aged 16, were convicted, Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) deputy crown prosecutor Ursula Doyle said: “They were both equally responsible in planning the killing and carrying it out.”

She said the pair “appear to have been a deadly influence on each other and turned what may have started out as dark fantasies about murder into a reality”.

“The messages provided a terrifying insight into the warped fantasies of the two defendants,” Ms Doyle added.

“However, they also provided us with the detailed planning of the attack and the attempts to cover it up.”

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.