Brianna Ghey: Teenagers guilty of ‘disturbing’ murder after planning ‘frenzied and ferocious’ knife attack

Published

2 years ago

December 20, 2023

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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.

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.

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.

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 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.”

UK

PPE Medpro partners open to settlement over £122m COVID gowns contract breach

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1 hour ago

October 11, 2025

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PPE Medpro partners open to settlement over £122m COVID gowns contract breach

Partners of a company linked to Baroness Michelle Mone have said they are open to a possible settlement with the government after the company was found to have breached a £122m PPE contract.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) had accused PPE Medpro of providing 25 million “faulty”, non-sterile gowns during the COVID pandemic.

The High Court ruled earlier this month that it must pay back a £121.9m sum, the price of the gowns.

PPE Medpro, a consortium led by Lady Mone‘s husband Doug Barrowman, filed to enter administration earlier this month.

In a statement on Friday, Mr Barrowman said: “The consortium partners of PPE Medpro are prepared to enter into a dialogue with the administrators of the company to discuss a possible settlement with the government.”

PPE Medpro has spent £4.3m defending its position.

It said offers to settle on a no-fault basis had been made, including the remake of 25 million gowns, or a £23m cash equivalent, which were rejected.

The consortium was awarded government contracts by the former Conservative administration to supply personal protective equipment (PPE) during the pandemic after Lady Mone recommended it to ministers.

It insists that it provided all 25 million gowns and disputes that the gowns were not sterile.

It is understood the partners want to resolve the issue, and administrators have been urged to approach the government to reach an agreement.

In the High Court ruling, Mrs Justice Cockerill said the gowns “were not, contractually speaking, sterile, or properly validated as being sterile”. This meant they could not be used in the NHS.

Barristers for PPE Medro claimed it had been “singled out for unfair treatment” and accused the government of “buyer’s remorse”.

It claimed the gowns had become defective because of the conditions they were kept in after being delivered. It also said the court made its ruling on a technicality.

Lady Mone branded the judgement a win for the “establishment”, while Mr Barrowman said it was a “travesty of justice”.

Baroness Mone, who created the lingerie brand Ultimo, was made a Conservative peer in 2015.

She now says she has “no wish to return” to the House of Lords.

UK

Women risking breast cancer by ‘always putting ourselves last’, says Liz Hurley

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1 hour ago

October 11, 2025

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Women risking breast cancer by 'always putting ourselves last', says Liz Hurley

Liz Hurley has encouraged women to check themselves for breast cancer – and warned some are not because they “are scared that it’s self-indulgent to spend time on themselves”.

The British actress and model, who has been a global ambassador for the Estee Lauder Companies’ Breast Cancer Campaign for 30 years, told Sky News’ Jacquie Beltrao the demands of everyday life mean women “always put ourselves last”.

“We’re doing stuff for kids, for husbands, for mothers, for in-laws. There’s so much that we have to do that we tend to come last,” she said.

Hurley, whose grandmother died of breast cancer, said she finds it helps by thinking of breast checks as a way to “keep ourselves healthy in order to continue to take care of everybody else”.

That way, it “doesn’t seem self-indulgent or taking time away from something else, it seems really important”.

Checking one’s breasts “takes two minutes”, she added, or “about the same length of time as brushing your teeth”.

More than a third of women in the UK do not take up the first mammogram appointment they are offered, and a recent study of 500,000 women from Sweden found a similar non-attendance rate there.

More than 11,000 people die from breast cancer every year in the UK, or 31 each day, Cancer Research UK said.

That makes it the second most common form of cancer death, accounting for 7% of all cancer deaths, the charity said.

Asked whether some of the messaging had “fallen on deaf ears”, Hurley said attending screenings, which are free on the NHS, is “definitely advised”, and she suggested all women should familiarise themselves with their breasts.

In the past, the illness was seen as “a disease for older ladies. And we didn’t understand that younger women also get diagnosed. That’s been a lot in the news lately”, Hurley said.

“There appear to be more women, younger women being diagnosed. And that could well be one of the reasons is that people are more breast aware, more self-aware.”

She told Ms Beltrao, who is a breast cancer survivor, people “have seen you on television talking about breast cancer”.

As a result of more awareness, she said, women have “begun to understand that it can never be too early to start checking your own breasts and to familiarise yourself [with them].

“When you’re younger and you’re not yet having regular mammograms, you do really have to be aware of your own breasts to be able to see if there’s a change, feel if there is a change and go to your doctor.”

UK

‘New era’ for British passports as King’s coat of arms appears on cover

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1 hour ago

October 11, 2025

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'New era' for British passports as King's coat of arms appears on cover

The King’s coat of arms will be on the front of all new British passports from December, the Home Office has announced.

The inside pages have also been updated to include images of natural landscapes from all four UK nations, including Ben Nevis, the Lake District, Three Cliffs Bay, and the Giant’s Causeway.

The Home Office said the new passport is the first wholly new design in five years, and it will be the “most secure passport ever produced”.

It will include the latest anti-forgery technology, including new holographic and translucent features.

The updated features will improve verification and make passports significantly more resistant to forgery or tampering, the Home Office said.

Migration and citizenship minister Mike Tapp said: “The introduction of His Majesty’s arms, iconic landscapes, and enhanced security features marks a new era in the history of the British passport.

“It also demonstrates our commitment to outstanding public service – celebrating British heritage while ensuring our passports remain among the most secure and trusted in the world for years to come.”

The Home Office has confirmed that passports bearing Queen Elizabeth II‘s coat of arms will remain valid until their printed expiry date.

However, it advised travellers to check their passports’ validity and renew them well in advance of any upcoming trips.

The first modern British passport was introduced over a hundred years ago, in 1915.