Brianna Ghey: Teenagers guilty of ‘disturbing’ murder after planning ‘frenzied and ferocious’ knife attack
Two teenagers have been found guilty of murdering 16-year-old Brianna Ghey in a “frenzied and ferocious” knife attack.
The pair, known only as girl X and boy Y, were just 15 when Brianna was lured to Linear Park in Culcheth, near Warrington, and stabbed 28 times in her head, neck and back with a hunting knife on 11 February.
Speaking after the verdicts, the victim’s mother Esther Ghey said “our house feels empty” without the laughter of her “larger than life” daughter who was “funny, witty and fearless”.
“To know how scared my usually fearless child must have been when she was alone in that park with someone that she called her friend will haunt me forever,” she said in an emotional statement.
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Teenagers guilty of Brianna Ghey’s murder
Manchester Crown Court heard her killers were obsessed with violence, torture and death and had compiled a “kill list” including Brianna, who was transgender, and four other children.
Jurors were shown thousands of texts and WhatsApp messages exchanged between girl X and boy Y, who are now aged 16, in which they discussed their plans.
Both denied murder, claiming the chats were just “dark fantasies”, and blamed each other for carrying out the stabbing.
Read more:
How teenagers ‘thirsty for death’ plotted her murder
Brianna Ghey. Pic: Cheshire Police
But prosecutors said that while boy Y wielded the knife, girl X was equally responsible because she actively planned and encouraged the killing.
A jury at Manchester Crown Court found them both guilty of murder today after four hours and 40 minutes of deliberations.
The judge Mrs Justice Yip thanked jurors for their service on an “extremely difficult and, at times, distressing case” and adjourned sentencing for reports.
She told the two convicted killers: “I will have to impose a life sentence. What I have to decide is the minimum amount of time you will be required to serve before you might be considered for release.”
Neither of the teenagers visibly reacted as the verdicts were delivered but boy Y’s mother sobbed while being hugged by a friend as her son was led from the dock.
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Brianna Ghey murder ‘most brutal attack’
Girl X, wearing a pinafore style dress, spoke to her social worker and glanced at her parents leaving the courtroom.
Brianna’s mother said she had felt sorry for them at times before the trial because they had “ruined their own lives as well as ours”.
But she said that knowing “the true nature” of what they had done and that they had shown no remorse, “I have lost all sympathy I may have previously had for them and am glad they will spend many years in prison and away from society”.
She added: “Please have some empathy and compassion for the families of the young people convicted of this horrific crime.
“They too have lost a child and they must live the rest of their lives knowing what their child has done.”
Brianna’s father Peter Spooner said he was “so proud” of his daughter whose life was “brutally taken”.
“It’s difficult to comprehend how some people can do these vile things in the world and don’t understand how cruel and heartbreaking their actions can be,” he said in an emotional statement outside court.
“My heart bleeds every day for Brianna and this will never go away.”
He added: “I never stopped loving her and I never will. When she was little I remember the faces she would pull to make me laugh.
“The cheeky giggle, the funny dances are engraved in my memory.
“I knew she was going to be a star and the amount of support she received from the followers on TikTok proved this.
“I was so proud of what she could do.”
Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) deputy chief Crown prosecutor Ursula Doyle said: “This has been one of the most disturbing cases we have ever dealt with. The planning, the violence and the age of the killers is beyond belief.
“Brianna Ghey was subjected to a frenzied and ferocious attack and was stabbed 28 times in broad daylight in a public park.”
The hunting knife used to stab Brianna. Pic: Cheshire Police
The teenagers were arrested within 24 hours of the murder and officers found the knife and blood-soaked clothes in boy Y’s bedroom.
A crumpled handwritten note described as a “murder plan” was found in girl X’s bedroom.
Cheshire Police Detective Chief Superintendent Mike Evans said both teenagers “thought they’d never get caught” but their downfall was their own “arrogance”.
“I think what they did on that day and leading up to that day was evil, it was cruel and it was vicious,” he said.
“It was absolutely heinous what they’ve done. It was the most brutal, cold-blooded, cruel attack on someone, who was a vulnerable and anxious child.”
Counter-terrorism police are investigating after an incident involving a crossbow and a firearm left two women injured in Leeds.
Police were called to Otley Road at 2.47pm on Saturday to reports of a “serious incident involving a man seen with weapons”, West Yorkshire Police said.
Officers arrived at the scene to find two women injured – and a 38-year-old man with a self-inflicted injury. All three were taken to hospital, with the man held under arrest, but their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.
“Two weapons have been recovered from the scene, which were a crossbow and a firearm,” Counter Terrorism Policing North East said in a statement.
The incident happened on the ‘Otley Run’ pub crawl, with one venue saying it was closed for the evening due to “unforeseen circumstances”.
Officers guard one of the crime scenes
Officers inside the cordon in Leeds
Counter Terrorism Policing’s statement added: “Due to the circumstances surrounding the incident, Counter Terrorism Policing North East have taken responsibility for leading the investigation with the support of West Yorkshire Police.
“Extensive enquiries continue to establish the full circumstances and explore any potential motivation.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper described it as a “serious violent incident” and said she was being kept updated by police.
“Thank you to the police and emergency services for their swift response,” she said. “My thoughts are with the victims and all those affected by this attack.”
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Wrexham AFC have been promoted for the third season in a row.
The North Wales-based side has gone from the National League to the Championship in just three seasons, under its Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
Wrexham were second in the table and had a run of eight games unbeaten ahead of their match against Charlton Athletic on Saturday, which they won 3-0.
Wrexham’s James McClean lifts the League One trophy. Pic: PA
Wrexham’s Dan Scarr celebrates with the fans on the pitch after Wrexham won promotion to the Championship. Pic: PA
It is the first time any club has been promoted for three consecutive seasons within the top five tiers of English football.
The third oldest association football club in the world, Wrexham AFC was bought by Reynolds and McElhenney in 2020, and has since been the subject of a Disney+ documentary, Welcome To Wrexham.
Reynolds, wearing a Wrexham sweatshirt, and McElhenney were pictured celebrating each goal, and after the game, as the fans came onto the pitch at the SToK Cae Ras (Racecourse Ground) to celebrate the victory with the players.
Wrexham co-owners Rob McElhenney (L) and Ryan Reynolds and Ryan’s wife Blake Lively, before the match. Pic: PA
Both stars came onto the pitch after the supporters returned to the stands.
Speaking to Sky Sports, McElhenney praised those behind the scenes, referring to “so many that don’t get the credit they deserve, people who aren’t talked about”.
Reynolds said bringing success back to the club “seemed like an impossible dream” when they arrived in North Wales in 2020.
Wrexham’s Sam Smith celebrates in front of the fans after Wrexham won promotion to the Championship. Pic: PA
He put the three promotions down to “the coaching staff, the greatest dressing room” and an “all for one, one for all” attitude throughout the club, adding he was “speechless with their commitment and their emotion”.
As for the mouth-watering prospect of another promotion to the promised land of the Premier League, the pair agreed it was “for tomorrow”, before ending the interview with a joint mic-drop.
Veteran striker Steven Fletcher said, “as soon as I came to this club, I knew it was something special. We want to go again. We’ll reset in the summer, take a break and go again”.
“It has been a success.”
Just Stop Oil (JSO) insists it’s been “successful” – as its members ceremoniously hang up their orange high-vis vests during a march in central London.
Since the group formed three years ago, it’s drawn attention and criticism for its colourful, controversial protests, which ranged from disrupting sporting events to throwing soup on Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers, and climbing on gantries over the M25. It sprayed orange paint over Stonehenge, and cost police forces tens of millions of pounds.
Those days are now behind it; to the relief of many.
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As a few hundred activists marched through London on Saturday, blocking roads as they went; taxi drivers blared their horns and football fans shouted abuse from the pavement.
The PA News Agency filmed the moment a white minivan seemed to drive towards a group of protesters blocking the road.
Protesters shouted “I’m being pushed back!” to police, while the driver could be heard shouting “What about my right to get home?” to the officers gathered.
But JSO never set out to be popular. And it believes its tactics – though hated – have been successful; thanks to the new Labour government’s commitment to not issue new oil or gas exploration licences.
That’s why, it says, its ceasing direct action.
JSO hangs up its high-vis jackets in central London on Saturday
A washing line of high-vis jackets signifies JSO’s disbanding
“This moment marks the success of the JSO campaign – our demand was to end new oil and gas licences and that is now government policy.
“As a result of which four billion barrels of oil are being kept under the North Sea. The campaign has reached a natural end.”
Dr Oscar Berglund, senior lecturer in international public and social policy, disagrees that JSO is disappearing because it’s been “successful”.
He told Sky News policing strength and public perception might have more to do with it.
“They have very low levels of popularity. About 17% of the British population are kind of broadly supportive of what Just Stop Oil do. And that’s too low to recruit.
“It’s difficult to recruit members to something that is that unpopular, and then that a lot of people for good reason I think have kind of stopped believing in that kind of disruption as a means to achieve meaningful change.”
Group triggers specific new protest laws
One thing it did change is the law.
Policing commentator Graham Wettone tells us: “Obstruction of the highway, obstruction of rail networks for example, these are specific offences now.
“It’s given the police more tactics, more methods, more offences they can consider, even stopping and searching somebody who may have something to either lock themselves on or glue themselves to something.”
A JSO activist holds a picture of an imprisoned colleague
Emma Smart was held in prison for her activism with both Insulate Britain and Just Stop Oil.
“The high-vis might be going away,” she tells me, “but we aren’t.”
“These people aren’t going anywhere, we are still committed, dedicated, terrified by the failings of this government and governments around the world.”
JSO activists throw orange paint at van Gogh’s sunflowers
Orange smoke set off by JSO protesters at Stonehenge
She hopes for a time of reflection before it returns in a new form but says the need for climate activism is stronger than ever.
She also believes that while most people dislike JSO tactics, it still raises awareness of the cause and might even push people to more moderate campaign groups.
Just Stop Oil came behind other, similarly controversial climate campaign groups like Insulate Britain and Extinction Rebellion, and as it says goodbye, its disruptive methods have been seized upon by other organisations like the Pro-Palestinian Youth Justice.
The infamous Just Stop Oil orange vests might be going away, but the individual activists, their cause and campaign tactics feel here to stay.
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