Murder-obsessed 16-year-olds convicted of killing girl who was stabbed 28 times in Warrington park
Two 16-year-olds have been found guilty of the āsenselessā murder of Brianna Ghey, a āwitty, funny and fearlessā transgender girl who was stabbed 28 times in a Warrington park this year.
The murder-obsessed teenagers, known as Girl X and Boy Y to protect their identities, were found guilty unanimously by a jury at Manchester crown court on Wednesday after it deliberated for four hours and 40 minutes.
The judge, Mrs Justice Yip, said she would sentence the pair next month, and would decide whether to lift reporting restrictions so that the killers could be named.
She told the teenagers that she would have to impose a life sentence but that she needed to adjourn for further reports to decide on the minimum tariff they must serve.
The pair showed no reaction to the verdicts, but their mothers wept in the court. Afterwards, Briannaās mother urged āempathy and compassionā for the killersā parents, saying they ātoo have lost a child and must live the rest of their lives knowing what their child has doneā.
Girl X, who was fascinated by serial killers and boasted of watching torture videos on the dark web, said she was āobsessedā with Brianna. She and Brianna had been friends for a few months before she began plotting to kill her, along with Y.
Vigils were held for Brianna, 16, after her murder prompted particular sorrow and fear among trans people, though Cheshire police said from the start they did not believe she was killed for being trans.
Nigel Parr, senior investigating officer for Cheshire police, said Brianna had been betrayed by two teenagers whose only motivation was to experience how it felt to kill. āThis was a senseless murder committed by two teenagers who have an obsession with murder,ā he added.
Y had never met Brianna until the day of the murder, which took place in the middle of the afternoon in Culcheth Linear Park on 11 February. The teenagers were disturbed by a couple walking their dog, and ran away, before being captured on CCTV making their way home calmly.
The defendants exchanged thousands of WhatsApp messages in the run-up to the murder, discussing various children they wanted to kill. Plans to murder another boy were abandoned when they failed to lure him to Culcheth Linear Park, and so they switched their focus to Brianna, who, the court heard, did not go out much and had anxiety.
The boy referred to Brianna as āpreyā and āitā in his messages, saying she would be easier to kill āand I want to see if it will scream like a man or a girlā.
Though X and Y had been friends since they were 11, they turned on each other after their arrests. The girl initially made up a story about Brianna āgoing off with some lad from Manchesterā, before changing her defence to claim that the boy was responsible for killing her.
Y blamed the murder on X, saying he was urinating against a tree in the park when he turned around to see X stabbing Brianna.
The jury was told they did not have to decide which one of the teenagers stabbed Brianna to find them guilty of the joint enterprise murder.
Y told police the girl was ānot a normal personā and that she claimed to be a satanist in year 8. He said she told him she had killed twice before, but that he was not sure whether to believe her because the murders had not been on the news. Police could find no evidence of other killings.
After detectives confronted Boy Y with the forensic evidence against him ā including Briannaās blood on a hunting knife found in his bedroom, as well as on his trainers and clothes ā he stopped talking and has been mute since being taken into secure custody, talking only to his mother.
Highly unusually, the boy was allowed to give evidence via text. Special arrangements were made for the barristersā questions to be typed for him, and he typed his replies, which were read to the jury.
He and Girl X were provided with intermediaries, who sat with them in the dock to make sure they understood the court process, along with security staff. The pair did not speak to each other, and avoided making eye contact when they were together.
Their parents were in court most days, with Briannaās family watching upstairs from the public gallery.
Earlier this year, Briannaās mother, Esther Ghey, told the Guardian that while her daughter had anxiety and mental health problems, she was āvery outgoing and very confidentā and dreamed of becoming āTikTok-famousā.
The court heard she did not go out alone often, and texted her mother on the way to meet her killers, saying she was āscaredā because there were lots of people on the bus.
But she had a large following online, where her dance routines and skits drew friends from around the world. After the verdicts, Esther described her daughter as ālarger than lifeā and āfunny, witty and fearlessā.
Though Girl X told the jury that Brianna was bullied at school for being trans, her head teacher insisted that was not the case.
The Birchwood community high school head, Emma Mills, told the BBC: āThere was never any evidence of Brianna being bullied within school or out of school. Brianna was very much able to give as good as she got in that way.ā
Brianna came out as trans aged 14 and had been living and dressing as a girl until her murder. Her mother said she supported the transition: āIt didnāt bother me. It was just something that Brianna wanted to do and I was happy. As long as she was happy then thatās all that mattered.ā
After the verdicts, the Crown Prosecution Service said: āThis 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.
āBrianna Ghey was subjected to a frenzied and ferocious attack and was stabbed 28 times in broad daylight in a public park.
āGirl 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.ā
Seriously, youāre going to make excuses for them here?
Having previous targets doesnāt negate their blatant transphobia, nor the fact that Brianna was vulnerable (suffered with anxiety and didnāt go out often on her own among other things) almost certainly and at least partly because she was trans, and they knew it.
The idea that anyone in the institution is looking out to protect trans people in any of this is absurd.
Covering up the fact that this was a hate crime just serves to minimise the extent of hate trans people have to put up with daily.
OP isnāt making excuses, merely pointing out that this murder didnāt appear driven by transphobia. Two sociopaths connected and went hunting to experience murder. Seems that simple. They were seeking a victim, not specifically a trans victim. Anyone would have sufficed. Yeah, they talked transphobic trash, but they would have talked similar trash about anyone in their sights.
Itās hard to form an opinion on this sort of thing unless youāre involved in the investigation or sat in the courtroom. Iāve seen plenty of outrageous cases and verdicts that didnāt seem so crazy once I heard what came out in court.
Iād venture this; These kids are sociopaths, lacking human emotions. Iām not sure theyāre capable of hate. Other people are simply actors in the play of their lives, not real to them. (Maybe not the kid who verbally shut down. Maybe it was like the Columbine shooters where one sociopath dragged a ānormalā kid along for the ride?)
Put another way, they werenāt driven by anger. They just wanted to see what it was like to kill someone. And they found a vulnerable victim. That victim could have been anyone, she just happened to be trans.
And if you want to argue that being trans made her vulnerable? Iām right with ya.
they are, when it clearly is, and so are you.
You have a bone to pick. And youāre going to hammer everything to fit into your worldview.
Can you not see that you are attacking allies?! Can you not see that youāre hurting your own cause?
I feel your rage. I have my own. 01/06 is my hate. But Iām not out here hating anyone who has a view contrary to mine, anyone who has a nuanced view on a specific story.
You are making enemies. Imagine a right-winger cutting and pasting this conversation. Imagine how that would look. Imagine yourself giving this hypothetical person more ammo. Like they need it.
No one said lay down and STFU. No one said stop fighting the good fight. But take a deep breath and think about your words, how they might backfire.
Just want to say that is a really well reasoned and rational take on a complex situation. Well done.
I wish we had more honest discussion of this quality instead of everyone jumping on one band wagon or another with no real knowledge of the situation beyond a single article.
āGreat going brushing that transphobia under the rug, Iām so much more comfortable not having to confront this thing I
probably* contribute toā š*ignoring is contributing, however āinnocentlyā done
What a shame. The previous replies have been deleted. Guess we arenāt allowed to discuss difficult problems like adults on Lemmy either.
What similar trash could they have talked to saying they wanted to hear if she screamed like a man or not? Is it possible transphobia is one of multiple motives for their murders? Because the transphobia is certainly there, and thatās an explicit statement by one of the killers of their motives. Are we just ignoring that or explaining it away that they said it because itās talking trash? If thatās the case why should we believe they just wanted to experience killing somebody? Thatās based on what they said too. Why believe one and not the other? Why is it so hard to believe theyāre transphobes, but not that theyāre murderers?
I would personally be fine with someone who uses slurs in the context of their crimes to be assumed to have bigotry/homophobia/racism/transphobia/etc. as a significant part ofntheir motive with a possible option to prove it wasnāt a reason at this point.
Well, thatās usually how it goes in America. Call someone a n****r and engage in violence against them? Hate crime.
That happens extremely rarely in the US, there is way more latitude given to racists and a need to have them almost say word for word that they are only doing it because of race.
Iām not trying to excuse them. They did a terrible thing and should be punished. I was merely giving the rational to why their crime hasnāt been considered a hate crime by the courts. Brianna killers were clearly transphobic, and she is much more likely to still be alive if her killers didnāt factor in that she was trans. Adding the hate crime factor would make prosecution more difficult, and itās important that the prosecution was successful as it is very clear Brianna was murder by the accused.
There are people that do look to protect vulnerable people in most of the UKās institutions - it could be much better. It is typically the government not the institutions that are the issue. The current conservatives have been very anti institutions. They are the ones driving a lot of anti-trans sentiment.
Things need to be better in the institutions. However, they have come a long way. It is far more acceptable now than ever before for a person to live as trans. This increases tolerance has also given rise to anti-trans sentiment we see today.
Much of the anti-trans rhetoric that features on the news in the UK is cis-woman saying that trans-women are a physical danger to cis-woman. A high profile murder case like this that focused on the hate crime element would see people on ten oāclock news justifying violence against trans people. Much of the UK media would say itās important that both sides are listened to. This would have been terrible for trans people in the UK.
It is likely very frustrating for many people that the murders were not charged with a hate crime. But the fact this trial went ahead found a guilty verdict and did not fuel the current anti-trans sentiment in the UK media is a good thing and a practical thing. Brianna murder was reported as a teenage girl was murdered, that happened to be trans. This wouldnāt have been the case 15-20 years ago.