A boy and a girl today found guilty of the “frenzied” murder of teenager Brianna Ghey in a Culcheth park had a “thirst for killing.”
Brianna, 16, was stabbed with a hunting knife 28 times in her head, neck, chest and back after being lured to Linear Park, Culcheth, Warrington, on the afternoon of February 11.
The pair, identified only as girl X and boy Y, both now aged 16 but 15 at the time, had denied murder and each blamed the other for the killing of the transgender teenager, described as “horrific” by detectives.
Intelligent, “high functioning” and coming from normal backgrounds, the trial heard the pair had a fascination for violence, torture and murder and had planned the killing for weeks, detailed in a handwritten murder plan and phone messages found by detectives.
A jury of seven men and five women convicted the two following a four-week trial at Manchester Crown Court.
Boy Y has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and is non-verbal and girl X has traits of autism and ADHD.
Trial Judge Mrs Justice Yip is now to discuss with counsel when the defendants, both facing mandatory jail terms for life, will be sentenced.
Outside court, Detective Chief Superintendent Mike Evans, head of crime at Cheshire Police, said: “I’m not sure fun is the word, but I think they killed her because they wanted to prove that they could, or that sort of thirst for killing.
“I don’t think there was any motive behind it so possibly, fun? Enjoyment is the right word.”
Both killers had a fascination for violence, murder and torture the trial heard, with girl X enjoying watching “snuff” and killing videos on the dark web.
Girl X also compiled notes on serial killers, including Richard Ramirez, known as the Night Stalker, and the notorious cannibal, Jeffrey Dahmer.
The pair drew up a “kill list” of four other children before settling on Brianna as the target, girl X sharing with Y a handwritten plan of how to carry out the murder.
After arresting the pair, police found the handwritten note in girl X’s bedroom and hundreds of messages between the pair, including the plans to kill Brianna and others.
The hand written murder plan
Mr Evans said: “If you can imagine if you download an iPhone, you get about 11,000 pages. So, trying to go through that it wasn’t a case of all sudden, ‘Bang. Here’s these five text messages.’
“It was a slow (process), almost a slow reveal. I do accept now, looking at it, you sort of go, ‘Wow’.
“There’s not many murders where you get from planning to execution almost documented, word for word.”
Mr Evans also branded the killers “arrogant” believing they would not be caught as girl X claimed the local police were “shite”.
“There’s more than an element of, ‘you won’t get caught’ you see in the text messages,” he said.
“I think that they are both really intelligent kids and you look at the backgrounds, they’re quite high functioning.
“I think that’s brought a level of arrogance, or certainly confidence.
“I don’t ever think they imagined we’d recover those text messages.
“And I’m not sure they ever thought that we’d knock on their doors.
“Again, I think the whole thing is callous and cold. And that’s probably where I go with that level of arrogance in that they had a plan. They thought through the plan.
“And it was only at the point where they are confronted with evidence that they didn’t know we’d ever have, their world’s fallen apart.”
Girl X said that, aged 14, she downloaded an app allowing her access to the Dark Web and “Red Rooms” where she enjoyed watching the torture and murder of real people.
Mr Evans added: “That’s certainly quite worrying. It shows a level of intelligence. So, not everyone can do that.
“And you know, it’s made me probably reflect a little bit as a parent around, actually, how’d you know what your kids are doing when they are sat with the door shut in their bedroom.
“We know in this case, how it’s ended, what I would say is, let’s put this into a little bit of context, as horrendous as this is, it is really rare.
“These are two very warped individuals who have done what they’ve done.
“I can only reflect on myself as a parent thinking how internet aware am I? And do I know what my kids are looking at?”
Following the convictions Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor Ursula Doyle of CPS Mersey Cheshire said: “This has been one of the most distressing cases the Crown Prosecution Service has had to deal 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.
“Girl X and Boy Y appear to have been a deadly influence on each other and turned what may have started out as dark fantasies about murder into a reality.
“The pages and pages of whats app messages between the two, planning and plotting to kill people, talking of murder, torture and cruelty were very difficult to read.
“The messages provided a terrifying insight into the minds of the two defendants. However, they also provided us with the detailed planning of the attack and then the attempts to cover it up.
“The Crown Prosecution Service authorised a charge of murder for both of the defendants. They were both equally responsible in planning the killing and carrying it out. In the trial, the defendants tried to blame each other to absolve themselves. The Jury has clearly seen their explanations for the lies that they were.
“This has been a difficult prosecution not least because two very young people were on trial for the most serious offence known to criminal law. It has involved using a number of measures to ensure that the defendants could participate fully in the trial and enable them to give their evidence.
“The Crown Prosecution Service would like to thank the family of Brianna Ghey for the courage and dignity that they have shown throughout these proceedings. We hope today’s verdict brings some solace, and our thoughts and sympathies remain with them at this difficult time.”
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