Distressing 999 call played to jury in Brianna Ghey murder trial

By Pat Hurst and Eleanor Barlow, PA

A distressing 999 call made by a female dog walker who found the body of teenager Brianna Ghey has been played to a jury on the 4th day of the murder trial at Manchester Crown Court.

The brief call was made by a local woman, who had been walking her dog with her husband when they came across the dying 16-year-old down a path through woods in a park.

Brianna, 16, from Birchwood, Warrington, had been stabbed 28 times with a hunting knife in Culcheth Linear Park, near Warrington, on February 11 earlier this year after catching a bus to meet her alleged killers.
A girl and a boy, both now aged 16, identified only as X and Y, are on trial for murder at Manchester Crown Court.
Both have pleaded not guilty and blame each other for the killing, the jury has heard. Neither defendant can be named because of their ages.

Beginning at 3.13pm, the 999 call from the female dog walker, breathing heavily and clearly distressed, says, “Police and ambulance. I’m in Culcheth Linear Park. Somebody has been attacked. We have seen some of the attackers run away from the body. She’s very hurt.”
The female call operator checks the location.
The female dog walker said: “She’s halfway down some stairs. She’s bleeding heavily. She’s blood on her legs and on her back. She’s really hurt.
“We thought it was a dummy at first. I don’t want to touch her either. I don’t know if she’s alive.
“She did twitch before. It’s an absolute mess.”
She tells the operator her husband is going to wait with Brianna while she goes to the car park to direct arriving emergency services.

Breathing heavily, the female dog walker continues the call: “Oh God! Oh God!”
The operator tells her: “OK, take some deep breaths. Do you think she’s been hit?”
She replied : “I think she’s been attacked. She may have been stabbed. There’s blood coming out of her back. Oh my God! Oh my God!”

She then describes the suspects as a girl and a boy, teenagers, in dark clothing with hoods up.
The operator continues: “Is she breathing?”
Female: “No, I don’t think so. I can’t see her face, it’s covered in blood.”
Operator: “Is she breathing?”
Female: “I don’t know. It’s awful. She looks dead to me. She’s dressed like a teenager. Oh God! Are they coming quickly? It’s a nightmare.”
Operator: “Can you see if she’s breathing at all?”
Female: “I can’t … shirt soaked in blood on her back…”
Operator: “Can you ask your husband to put pressure on the wound?”
Female: “I don’t think there’s anything you can do for her. Oh God!”
The female dog walker becomes increasingly distressed and the call ends with the operator telling her multiple police units and paramedics are on the way.

In his police interview, which was also played to the jury, the female dog walker’s husband described seeing a couple walking in a field to their right at quite a fast pace.
He described them as “furtive” and “hurried” and said he made eye contact with the male but it was interrupted because he partially covered his face with a hood.
He added: “I was aware that they had clocked us. It almost made them sort of pace in their speed, so they reacted to seeing us in that suspicious way.”
He said after seeing the two he thought “what are we going to find”, before seeing Brianna on the path.
He told police he thought he saw Brianna’s chest move.
He added: “I bent down to try to see signs of life and obviously to speak to her to say ‘hang in, we’re phoning the police’.”

Pc Andrew Chadwick, from Cheshire Constabulary, told the jury he was on patrol in a vehicle when he was dispatched to the park following the 999 call.
He ran through the park to the scene and said he located Brianna in a “almost foetal position”, lying on her front but not completely face down.
Pc Chadwick said: “I rolled her on to her back and pulled her away from the stairs.”
The officer said he felt warm blood on her neck with multiple wounds to her head, neck, body and back, and she was bleeding heavily with her clothing soaked in blood.
He could not detect a pulse but cut away her clothing and began chest compressions.
Paramedics arrived five minutes later and took over while Pc Chadwick helped guide in an air ambulance to land in the field next to the park.
Brianna was pronounced dead at 4.02pm.

The trial, now on its fourth day, has already heard:
– X and Y had a fixation with torture, violence and death.
– The pair had a “kill list” of other child victims, jurors heard.
– A “murder plan” to kill Brianna was found in X’s bedroom.
– She posted a tribute to her alleged victim on social media after the killing.
– X had an interest in serial killers.
The trial was adjourned until Friday morning.