Accused heard 'scream' as she blames boy for stabbing - updates

Court proceedings end for the day

Justice Yip has brought court proceedings to a close for the day.

The trial will resume at 10am on Tuesday.

The defence opened their case last week and today co-defendant girl X faced cross examination.

The 16-year-old told the jury she heard a scream and turned round to see her co-accused - boy Y - knifing Brianna.

The court has seen an alleged handwritten 'murder plan' found in girl X's bedroom and been shown text messages between her and boy Y, allegedly showing the plan to lure Brianna to the park and kill her.

Girl X, sitting in the witness box beside an intermediary to look after her welfare, wiped away a tear as she denied murder and said any talk of harming Brianna was just "a fantasy".

Girl X says talk of murdering Brianna was 'just fantasy'

Girl X, sitting in the witness box beside an intermediary to look after her welfare, wiped away a tear as she denied murder and said any talk of harming Brianna was just "a fantasy".

She said she expected herself, boy Y and Brianna were just going to "hang out" in the park that Saturday afternoon and they stopped near a bench. Girl X said she then got a bit bored and walked away from the bench to stretch her legs.

Killer dances in his victim's house with twerking model who later turned on him

Richard Pratt KC, defending girl X, said: "Did something attract your attention?"

Girl X replied: "Yeah. When I walked off, I heard a noise like someone screaming and that's when I turned around." Mr Pratt said: "What did you see when you turned around?" Girl X replied: "I saw boy Y stabbing Brianna."

She indicated on a photo of the crime scene that this was happening on the path a short distance from the bench. Mr Pratt asked: "How many times did you see boy Y stabbing Brianna?" Girl X replied: "Around five times. I saw her fall and land face down on the floor. I saw him stood next to her, leaning over, looking down at her."

Mr Pratt continued: "How did this make you feel?", to which Girl X said: "I was in shock."

Mr Pratt said: "Did you expect that was going to happen? Did you want it to happen?" "No," girl X replied.

'I f***ed up so badly' Girl X texted boyfriend but tells court it was not related

The day after the stabbing Girl X messaged her boyfriend saying "I f***ed up so badly", the jurors are told.

Girl X said she does "overthinking quite a lot’ but she denied she was referring to what had happened in the park. She denied a suggestion from the KC she had "done this to Brianna" because she had tried to break up Girl X and her boyfriend.

The defendant agreed it was right she had suggested to Boy Y she wanted to kill two others because of what they had done to her boyfriend, but she denied she actually wanted to kill them.

Girl X had texted her boyfriend as she had fallen out with Brianna, suggested Mr Littler. “I had a couple arguments about her sleeping with grown men,” said Girl X. They ‘stopped being mates for a bit’, she said.

Jurors take a short break

Girl X admits wanting to stab Brianna in stomach ‘to see her face when doing it’

Girl X said she had been telling Boy Y she wanted to kill Brianna but she went on that there was "no intent".

Richard Littler KC, representing Boy Y, said: “Put to one side intent. It was your idea to kill Brianna,” and Girl X said "yes". The KC put to the defendant she had told Boy Y ‘let’s kill her’, and she again agreed it had been her idea.

The defendant said there had been no reason why she had suggested stabbing her in the stomach. She agreed she had told her co-defendant she knew of a ‘hidden spot’ in the park, although she said they met somewhere else in the end.

Girl agreed she had said said she had wanted to see another boy, Boy E, suffer and ‘feel the pain of the knife’. The defendant agreed this was part of her fantasy. Mr Littler suggested the fantasy was ‘not just knives’ but also ‘stabbing people’, and the defendant agreed.

It is suggested to Girl X that she had said she wanted to stab Brianna in the stomach "because you are able to see her face when you are doing it". Girl X agreed.

Girl X sent a message to Brianna asking 'girl you ok?', court heard

Girl X was asked about messages she had sent to Brianna the day after the stabbing where she had asked "girl you ok?" as "some teenager" had been killed in the park.

The defendant said: “I started to get really paranoid and realised how bad it was going to look. I started making up messages to Brianna to cover myself… I knew it would look really bad on me because of the text messages between me and Boy Y and so I started making messages with Brianna.”

She agreed she was pretending Brianna was still alive. Girl X agreed she had tried and failed to delete messages she had sent to Brianna.

The defendant was asked why she later posted a tribute to Brianna online, and she said she had been "upset" at photos she had seen and added: “I was really upset at what god did (sic) to Brianna so I posted that picture online.”

She admitted lying to police. “I was still trying to defend myself and Boy Y at that point,” she said. Pressed on why she had lied, she said: “Because I knew how bad it was going to look on me.” She denied she had done anything to physically harm Brianna and also denied she wanted Boy Y to harm her.

Girl X said she did not remember seeing two dog walkers

Girl X said she could not recall seeing two dog walkers as she ran from the park. The jurors have heard of one of them stopping and looking at a female for up to eight seconds.

“I remember stopping but I don’t remember looking at her,” the defendant told the jury. Girl X continued: “I kept debating about going back and ended up stopping to think about whether I should go back or not.”

The defendant said she had spent ‘probably ten seconds’ at the edge of the field. She denied she was with Boy Y or asked him about what happened. “I was too much in shock to even try to talk to him,” said Girl X. She added: “If I questioned him he could possibly have come after me thinking I could snitch.”

Girl X then appears to become upset and tearful in the witness box and the questioning is paused for a period. She dabs her eyes with a handkerchief.

Girl X confirmed hand-written 'murder plan' was her's

Girl X confirmed a crumpled, handwritten note of an alleged "murder plan" to kill Brianna found on her bedroom floor by police, had been written by her.

But she said it was another fantasy and not a real plan to carry out a killing.

Notes were also made on serial killers including Jeffrey Dahmer, Richard Ramirez and Harold Shipman in a black Pukka notebook.

Jurors have heard X and Y had a fixation with torture, violence and death, with girl X describing herself as a "satanist".

The chilling note that is allegedly Girl X and Boy Y's plan to kill Brianna (police handout)

Girl X told a false story to police and parents after Brianna stabbing because she was 'scared'

Girl X said she told a false story to the police and her own parents about Brianna's stabbing because she was "scared".

The jury heard that she previously claimed Brianna Ghey had gone off with "someone from Manchester" and she hadn't seen what happened to her.

But in court today, she changed her story and said that Boy Y was in fact responsible for Brianna's death. Asked why she did not tell the truth, Girl X said: "I was scared because obviously I knew how bad it would look, just based off of text messages, so I was defending myself as well as boy Y at the time."

She said she sent messages via Snapchat to Brianna after her death because she started to get "really paranoid".

Brianna Ghey boarding a bus to Culcheth hours before she was stabbed to death (Cheshire Police)

'I saw Boy Y stabbing Brianna' Girl X claims

Girl X claims she heard a scream and turned around to see Boy Y "stabbing Brianna".

Richard Pratt KC, asked Girl X if something "attracted your attention. She said: "Yeah. When I walked off, I heard a noise like someone screaming and that’s when I turned around.”

Mr Pratt said: “What did you see when you turned around?” Girl X replied: “I saw Boy Y stabbing Brianna.” She indicated on a photo of the crime scene that this was happening on the path a short distance from the bench.

Mr Pratt asked: “How many times did you see Boy Y stabbing Brianna?” Girl X replied: “Around five times. I saw her fall and land face down on the floor. I saw him stood next to her, leaning over, looking down at her.”

Mr Pratt continued: “How did this make you feel?” Girl X said: “I was in shock.” Mr Pratt said: “Did you expect that was going to happen? Did you want it to happen?”

“No,” Girl X replied.

Emergency services in Culcheth Linear Park in Warrington, Cheshire, after Brianna's death (PA)

Girl X wiped away tear as she denied murder

In court today, Girl X wiped away a tear as she denied murdering Brianna Ghey, once more claiming any talk or harming, maiming or killing the schoolgirl was just "a fantasy".

Girl X, who the prosecution said extensively planned murdering Brianna including writing a handwritten note detailing how to do so, claimed her co-defendant Boy Y was responsible for the murder.

She said she expected herself, boy Y and Brianna were just going to “hang out” in the park that Saturday afternoon and they stopped near a bench.

The chilling note that is allegedly Girl X and Boy Y's plan to kill Brianna (police handout)

Girl X admits pretending to buy drugs when out with Brianna before she was killed

In court today, Girl X admitted to pretending to buy drugs - but was actually just messaging another account she had made.

The defendant admitted she was pretending to talk to her drug dealer ‘Nathan’ because she wanted Brianna to think she was getting drugs. Girl X admitted she was sending messages to and from an account she had created and then showed them to Brianna.

“I was showing her the conversation and then walking away,” said Girl X.

Emergency services were called to Linear Park in Culcheth by members of the public at 3.13pm on Saturday 11 February 2023, after Brianna’s body was found on a path (Cheshire Police / SWNS)

'We just talked about school and stuff'

Girl X has revealed what she, Boy Y and Brianna Ghey discussed as they headed to the park where the schoolgirl would get stabbed 28 times.

Both defendants deny murder and during proceedings today she said that as they walked to the park, they "just talked about general things, school and stuff", the court heard.

Brianna Ghey's mother Esther Ghey (left) arriving at Manchester Crown Court (PA)

'I didn't think he'd actually bring a knife'

The court heard that Girl X denied discussing bringing a knife with Boy Y to meet Brianna at the park, and denied what was going to happen when they met the school girl.

Asked why not, Girl X said: "I didn’t think he was actually going to bring a knife."

Girl X confirmed she was wearing a red cardigan at the time which has previously been shown to the jury. She said she was wearing a black vest top under the cardigan and black jogging bottoms. All the items were said to have been later seized by police.

Brianna Ghey (MEN Media)

Knife talk 'adds to the fantasy' Girl X claims as she denies murder

Throughout the trial so far, Girl X has repeatedly claimed her discussions over murder, both claiming to have killed people and planning to kill others like Brianna were all to "add to the fantasy".

This was repeated again this morning in court as she denied murder.

The court has heard further about the alleged discussions over the knife that Boy Y and Girl X were having. In them, they were said to have spoken about the sharpness of a blade, and Girl X is then said to have said: "and that will 100 per cent kill her".

However, Girl X denied any intention to actually murder Brianna and claimed it was to "add to the fantasy"

Brianna was stabbed to death in a park on February 11, 2023 (MEN Media)

Girl X discussed keeping bits of Brianna after seeing serial killers do similar, court hears

Girl X discussed keeping bits of Brianna's body parts, including her eyeballs and flesh, the court heard, but the teenager claimed she only said this just because some serial killers had done that and hadn't meant it.

She was asked about messages with Boy Y which allegedly discussed keeping trophies from killing her. However, Girl X said: “I knew some serial killers had done that,” and claimed to have not meant it.

Girl X allegedly pushed Boy Y to bring knife saying 'please I want it done as soon as possible'

More detail has emerged of the alleged messages shared between Girl X and Boy Y in the run up to when Brianna was stabbed 28 times, the court heard.

In them, Girl X allegedly encouraged Boy Y to bring the knife out, telling him "nobody is gonna search you for a knife". She, once again, claimed this was apart of the "fantasy" and was in an attempt to make Boy Y think she was being serious.

Girl X told the court she said it: "To add more to the fantasy so that he would think that I was being serious. I knew that he never took his knives out of his house.”

She also told him "please I want it done as soon as possible" the court heard but this, she claimed, was simply an attempt to try and get him to come out that day.

Police at Culcheth Linear Park in Warrington, Cheshire, where Brianna was stabbed to death on 11 February of this year (MEN Media)

Girl X asked is knife 'definitely sharp enough', court hears

Girl X asked her co-defendant Boy Y if a knife he said he had was "definitely sharp enough?", the jury was told.

As the defence continue their case this morning, the court heard the alleged messages but Girl X denied she wanted Boy Y to obtain a knife.

She claimed the messages were "to add to the whole fantasy about killing Brianna." The teenager said she wanted "to make it seem more realistic" by discussing the sharpness of the knife, the court heard. She also denied she had wanted to stab Brianna.

Brianna Ghey was seen on Ring doorbell camera footage leaving her home in Birchwood, Warrington, less than three hours before she was stabbed to death (Cheshire Police)

Girl X back in witness box and denies plans to kill another teenager

Girl X is back in the witness box and has resumed giving evidence.

The jury heard she was asked about messages between herself and Boy Y, discussing killing Boy E but denied the intention to kill him was real.

She also said that she had planned to hang herself, when asked about a discussion to obtain a rope.

Tributes to murdered schoolgirl Brianna Ghey poured in from friends and wellwishers following her death (Liverpool Echo)

Who is involved in the trial?

The judge of this shocking trial, held at Manchester Crown Court, is Mrs Justice Amanda Yip. The trial itself is expected to last for about three or four weeks and it opened on Monday 27 November.

Last week, the prosecution ended their case, they are being led by Deanna Heer KC and Cheryl Mottram.

After them, Girl X one of the accused, is represented by Richard Pratt KC and Sarah Holt, began her defence and is expected to be cross-examined today.

While Boy Y, her co-defendant, is represented by Richard Littler KC and Steven Swift.

Brianna Ghey was found dead at around three in the afternoon earlier this year, in Linear Park, Warrington (Liverpool Echo)

What has the court previously heard?

The court has heard the prosecutions case, that Girl X and Boy Y planned and murdered Brianna Ghey.

The jury heard a number of conversations between the two where they discussed killing Brianna, amongst others, and how they would do so. This included notes found in Girl X's room the prosecution claimed were plans to kill the schoolgirl.

However, last week the defence opened its case where Girl X denied murdering Brianna and said that texts about killing Brianna were just a "fantasy".

The chilling note that is allegedly Girl X and Boy Y's plan to kill Brianna (police handout)

Proceedings will kick off at 10am today

Proceedings will kick off at 10am this morning.

Girl X, one of the two teenagers accused of killing Brianna Ghey, will continue to give evidence after the defences case opened last week.

The now 16-year-old denies murder and the jury heard that alleged texts shared with Boy Y discussing killing Brianna were a "fantasy".

Police and emergency services at the park where Brianna was killed (Liverpool Echo)