THESE CRIMES INVOLVED YOUNG VICTIMS AND PERPETRATORS
On the 20th December 2023, two teenagers, known then only as Boy Y and Girl X, were found guilty of the “senseless” murder of Brianna Ghey. Shockingly, the killers were aged just 15 when they stabbed 16-year-old Brianna 28 times in aWarrington park one year ago. They remained stony faced in the dock as their devastated parents wept, and Brianna’s mother Esther called for compassion for their families, saying, “They too have lost achild and must live the rest of their lives knowing what their child has done”. As we went to press, the teens were due to be sentenced to life, with aminimum term to be decided, at which time their anonymity orders would be lifted and they would be publicly named for the first time.
OBSESSED
Brianna was amuch-loved teenager, described as “witty, funny and fearless”. She’d dreamed of becoming aTikTok star, and would regularly post dance routines and sketches to the platform. After coming out as trans aged 14, she was fully supported by her family. Mum Esther told reporters, “It was something Brianna wanted to do and Iwas happy –as long as she was happy, that’s all that mattered.” The teenager’s death impacted others deeply, and Esther would later say, “The level of support from the trans community has been overwhelming. Ithink it’s probably hit them quite hard. Ithink it was absolutely beautiful how people rallied together and showed support for Brianna. And I think how she would have loved that.”
In court, the full story of what happened to the teenager in the middle of the afternoon on 11 February 2023 was revealed, and it makes for incomprehensible reading, particularly given the age of the perpetrators. It was revealed that Boy Yand Girl X, who had been friends for around five years, were obsessed with the idea of committing murder. Girl Xwas said to have watched torture videos on the dark web, and the pair swapped “thousands of WhatsApp messages” detailing their desires to kill someone. They had already abandoned plans to target another child they knew before they turned their attention to Brianna, who Girl Xwas said to be “obsessed with” because she was “really different” and “really pretty”. It was also revealed Boy Yhad called Brianna “prey”, saying, “I want to see if it will scream like aman or agirl”.
BRUTAL CRIME
Texts shown in court revealed that the pair initially attempted to poison Brianna with an overdose of painkillers, and when that didn’t work, they hatched aplot to lure her to Culcheth Linear Park, where she was set upon. The “extremely brutal and punishing” attack only stopped when the pair were disturbed by apasser-by walking their dog, and chillingly, they were later captured on CCTV heading home “calmly”. They were both arrested the next day, where Boy Yclai
