A boy and a girl were found guilty Wednesday of murdering a transgender teenager in northwest England earlier this year, in a “frenzied and ferocious” knife attack that was described as “horrific” by police.
Brianna Ghey, 16, was stabbed with a hunting knife 28 times in the head, neck, chest and back in broad daylight after being lured to a park in the town of Warrington on Feb. 11. Grey’s body was spotted by a couple walking their dogs.
The convicted pair, a girl and a boy who cannot be named because of their age, are 16 now but were 15 at the time. They denied killing Ghey and each blamed the other for the fatal stabbing. It is not known which one or if both wielded the knife. Neither had been in trouble with police before.
A jury of seven men and five women convicted the two following a four-week trial at Manchester Crown Court. The jurors deliberated for just four hours and 40 minutes.
“You probably didn’t anticipate sitting on a case as emotionally difficult as this one,” Justice Amanda Yip told them.
The trial heard that the young defendants had a fascination with violence, torture and serial killers. They had planned the attack for weeks, detailed in a handwritten plan and hundreds of WhatsApp messages found by detectives. They had also discussed killing others, which prompted police early in the investigation to rule out transphobia as a motivation behind Ghey’s murder.
Not a hate crime, police say
Police believe Ghey was killed because of being vulnerable and accessible. They said the death was not a hate crime but done for “enjoyment” and a “thirst for killing.”
“This was a senseless murder committed by two teenagers who have an obsession with murder,” said Nigel Parr, senior investigating officer from Cheshire Police. “Brianna trusted the female defendant. She was betrayed by someone she called her friend.”
Neither defendant displayed a visible reaction to the verdicts.
Girl X spoke to her social worker and glanced at her parents when leaving the courtroom, while Boy Y, who avoids all eye contact, did not look over at his mother as he was led from the dock carrying his Sudoku puzzles book.
Outside the court, Ghey’s mother Esther said her child’s killers had not shown “an ounce of remorse” but she called for the families of the convicted pair to be shown some empathy and compassion.
“We miss Brianna so much and our house feels empty without her laughter,” Esther Ghey said. “To know how scared my usually fearless child must have been when she was alone in that park with someone that she called her friend will haunt me forever.”
Yip will not be sentencing the pair this week. She said a life sentence was mandatory but that she would await psychologists’ reports before deciding the minimum prison time the pair will be required to serve before being eligible for parole.
“Frankly I don’t expect them to make a huge difference to the outcome in sentencing but given their ages and the unusual circumstances of the case, I think it is right I have all the information available,” the judge said.