Two 16-year-olds obsessed with death guilty of murdering Brianna Ghey

Brianna was found lying face down in the mud with 28 stab wounds to her head, neck, chest, and back in Culcheth Linear Park (Pictures: PA)

Two 16-year-olds obsessed with ‘violence, torture and death’ have been found guilty of the horrific murder of transgender teenager Brianna Ghey.

The schoolgirl was stabbed with a hunting knife 28 times in her head, neck, chest and back after being lured to Culcheth Linear Park near Warrington, Cheshire, in February this year.

Her killers, referred to only as Girl X and Boy Y because of their ages, were just 15 at the time of the murder, which made headlines around the world.

Jurors heard the pair had discussed plans to kill up to five other children before eventually targeting Brianna and turning their ‘dark fantasies’ to reality.

Each blamed the other but both were convicted at Manchester Crown Court after less than five hours’ deliberation and now face life sentences when they are sentenced at a later date.

The court saw reams of messages between the pair, who were close friends and described as intelligent, ‘high functioning’ and coming from normal backgrounds.

But the tone of their exchanges moves away from teen crushes and relationships to more sinister ones like violence, torture and murder.

Girl X described how she ‘loved’ trawling through snuff films and videos depicting extreme violenceon the dark web.

In a message to Boy Y, she said: ‘I love watching torture vids. Real ones on the dark web. I’ve liked the stuff for a while, I’m just happy because I’ve finally found a good red room.’

She also had a fascination for serial killers, in particular Richard Ramirez, known as The Night Stalker, telling the boy: ‘I could talk about him for like two hours, including quotes and dates of stuff.’

Brianna Ghey was found dead in Culcheth Linear Park in Warrington, Cheshire (Picture: PA)

Police later found a list of types of them in her home, including mass murderers, psychopathic sexual sadists and copycat killers, along with lists of some of their victims.

Among them were ‘Killer Clown’ John Wayne Gacy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and Harold Shipman.

Deanna Heer KC, prosecuting, said the exchanges demonstrate how, over time, ‘they encouraged one another to think about how they would actually carry out a killing, and the messages show how they planned together to kill Brianna in just the way that she was in fact killed’.

In November 2022, they discussed killing a child referred to as Boy M, with Girl X saying: ‘If I do end up killing boy M, I have a really sharp blade, the same one that Sweeney Todd uses.

‘If we kill boy M can I keep some things, a couple of teeth and an eye.’

The court heard she met Brianna that same month and quickly became ‘obsessed’ with her.

She told Boy Y in messages: ‘I’m obsessed over someone I know but don’t have feelings for them, she’s called Brianna. I don’t know how to explain. Also she has a dick lol.’

Boy Y responded: ‘Is it a femboy or a tr***y?’

Girl X said Brianna was ‘trans’, sounded ‘just like a girl’ and ‘looked really pretty’, while he repeatedly referred to her as ‘it’.

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Ms Heer said the two teens spoke about other people they wanted to kill and by January 26 had compiled a list of at least four people, as well as Brianna.

The court heard Girl X created a fake Instagram account to contact one of their targets, referred to as boy E, but it was blocked.

In a message read to the court, Girl X told Boy Y: ‘If we can’t get boy E tomorrow we can kill Brianna.’

Boy Y replied saying: ‘Yeah, it’ll be easier and I want to see if it will scream like a man or a girl.’

They discussed meeting Brianna and killing her at the park the following day, with Girl X saying: ‘I want to stab her at least once even if she’s dead jus coz its fun lol.’

The two planned to meet her on January 28 but ‘last minute’ she was unable to come.

Afterwards, Girl X told Boy Y in a message that Brianna would be able to meet them on Tuesday evening but the boy told her he was unable to carry out the killing on a ‘school night’.

Girl X said in a message: ‘I don’t want to wait, I just want her to die. I want to see pure horror on her face and hear her scream in pain.’

Boy Y replied: ‘Really? All I wanted to see is what size dick it had.’

In another message, Girl X said: ‘I really want one of its eyes. They have pretty eyes.’

The crumpled, hand-written ‘murder plan’ (Picture: PA)

On February 10, the night before the murder, Girl X asked the boy which knife he would bring when they met Brianna the following day.

He replied: ‘The hunting knife I showed you in person as well as on the phone.’ The girl asked if it would ‘definitely 100% kill her’ and Boy Y replied: ‘Yes.’

Jurors heard the killing was outlined out in a handwritten note later found in Girl X’s bedroom.

The crumpled piece of paper was headed ‘Saturday, 11th February,2023. Victim Brianna Ghey.’

Under the word ‘plan’, the note read: ‘Meet [Boy Y] at wooden posts 1pm. Walk down to library, bus stop. Wait until Brianna gets off bus, then the 3 of us walk to Linear Park. Go to the pipe/tunnel area.

‘I say code word to [Boy Y]. He stabs her in the back as I stab her in stomach. [Boy Y] drags the body into the area. We both cover up the area with logs etc.’

A smiley face and a heart shape was also drawn on the top right-hand corner of the note.

Brianna on her way to meet her killers (Picture: PA)

Footage shows Brianna meeting her killers at a bus stop at 1.53pm that afternoon before walking together to the park.

Her body was discovered by dog walkers Kathryn and Andrew Vize, who also described seeing the boy and girl running away, just over an hour later at about 3pm.

Brianna’s blood was later found on Boy Y’s jacket and trainers, as well as the hunting knife he had taken with him to the park and back home again afterwards.

None was found on Girl X.

But Ms Heer told jurors the murder had been ‘a joint effort’.

Referring to the note, she said: ‘They both wanted to stab Brianna according to this plan. It’s all there in black and white. These are the defendants’ own words.’

Ms Heer also highlighted the fact Boy Y was named as ‘Tesco John Wick’ in Girl X’s phone.

She explained: ‘For those of you who like Keanu Reeves movies, John Wick was a hitman or an assassin. You may think that’s why she referred to Boy Y in that way, because he was her hitman.’

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She had suggested in her cross-examination of Girl X that she wanted Boy Y to overpower and kill Brianna while she watched.

The prosecutor said: ‘Brianna was stabbed, and stabbed, and stabbed. Try as she might to fight off the knife, she stood no chance. She was outnumbered, two-on-one.

‘True it is, members of the jury, that these defendants are young. You will make due allowance for that.

‘But each of them knew Boy Y’s hunting knife was capable of killing. They knew what they were doing, you may think. They intended to kill Brianna.’

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