Two 16-year-olds have been convicted of the murder of Brianna Ghey, a teenage boy who identified as a girl, who was lured to a park near Warrington with the specific aim of realising the pair’s fantasy.
Brianna, 16, was stabbed 28 times with a hunting knife in Linear Park, Culcheth, Cheshire, on Feb. 11, 2023.
Because Brianna’s killers were both juveniles, they could not be named for legal reasons and were referred to throughout the trial as Girl X and Boy Y.
The pair—who were both 15 at the time of the attack—sought to blame each other during the trial at Manchester Crown Court, but on Wednesday they were both found guilty of murder.
The judge, Mrs. Justice Yip, told them: “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.”
She said they would both be sentenced in the New Year.
‘They Can’t Both Be Telling the Truth’
Both defendants sought to blame the other but Mrs. Justice Yip told the jury on Friday, “On the facts of the case and the evidence before you, they can’t both be telling the truth.”Prosecutor Deanna Heer, KC told the jury the truth was that the pair shared an obsession with violence, torture, and murder and were “in it together from first to last.”
The court heard Boy Y was socially awkward and had been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and selective mutism. He had referred to Brianna as “it” but denied he was transphobic.
His lawyer, Richard Littler, KC, told the jury: “If this case was a play, it would definitely be a tragedy. The script would be written by Girl X, directed by X, stage-managed by X, produced by X, and the central character would have to be X.”
Girl X admitted she enjoyed watching torture and violence from the “dark web” and had an interest in serial killers Jeffrey Dahmer, Harold Shipman, and Richard Ramirez, known as “The Night Stalker.”
But she denied a “murder plan” that was found in her bedroom was a blueprint for exactly what happened to Brianna.
- Meet Boy Y at wooden posts at 1 p.m.
- Walk down to library bus stop
- Wait until Brianna gets off bus
- Then the 3 of us walk up to Linear Park
- Go to the pipe/tunnel area
- I say codeword to Boy Y
- He stabs her in the back as I stab her in the stomach
- Boy Y drags the body into the area
- We both cover up the area with logs etc.
He claimed he was relieving himself behind a tree when he heard noises and realised Girl X was stabbing Brianna.
Boy Y admitted running off with Girl X as some dog walkers approached and he said when he asked his friend why she stabbed Brianna, Girl X told him, “She had tried to get me to break up with my boyfriend and that is unforgivable.”
Ms. Heer told the jury Girl X met Brianna in November 2022 and quickly became obsessed.
The prosecutor read out messages Boy Y and Girl X exchanged.
In one he said, “Tell me what you feel when you interact with it?”
Ms. Heer said: “Girl X said she got nervous and stuff but her heart felt normal. Boy Y responded, ‘I don’t think you’re necessarily in love but I think you’re more curious and intrigued by its unnatural nature.'”
She added, “Girl X agreed that she found Brianna fascinating, saying, ‘She’s really different.'”
The pair face mandatory life sentences. Their ages will be a factor that will inevitably reduce the minimum tariff they are given by Mrs. Justice Yip.
