Sadistic teenage killers sentenced to 42 years for brutal murder of Brianna Ghey

02 February 2024 , 15:22

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Sadistic teenage killers sentenced to 42 years for brutal murder of Brianna Ghey

Two sadistic teenagers have been sentenced to 42 years today for the murder of Brianna Ghey.

Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe, both 16, were unmasked today as the killers of the transgender teenager, who they stabbed 28 times in a park. Jenkinson was today told she must serve at least 22 years and Ratcliffe will serve at least 20 years.

Brianna was lured to Culcheth Linear Park near Warrington, Cheshire, by Jenkinson, then 15, whom she believed was her friend. Brianna had no idea Jenkinson had secretly been plotting to kill her, with her friend Ratcliffe, also then 15.

Jenkinson and Ratcliffe drew up a “kill list” of five people they deemed worthy of murder over insignificant or minor dislikes. Brianna, though, represented an easy kill, Manchester Crown Court heard. A handwritten note, discovered by police in Jenkinson's bedroom in Warrington, was headed: "Saturday 11th February 2023. Victim: Brianna Ghey."

The pair were locked up today. Judge Mrs Justice Yip had earlier today identified Jenkinson and Ratcliffe, who were subject to anonymity throughout their four-week trial last year. Jurors took four hours to deliberate and find both teenagers guilty in December last year.

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The moment Scarlett Jenkinson was arrested (PA)

Speaking to Jenkinson and Ratcliffe today, Justice Yip said: "I can only hope that you will work hard at your rehabilitation and overcome what caused you to kill so that you can be released. Brianna was only 16 when she died. She had her whole life ahead of her."

Speaking directly to Jenkinson, Justice Yip said: "Scarlett you make up stories. You blur the lines between fantasy and real life." She added: "Your motivation Scarlett was to act out our fantasies. The messages show you wanted to make a real victim feel pain and fear." She says Brianna was killed with "exceptional brutality".

The judge said both murderers have shown no remorse. She tells Ratcliffe: "You knew very well that what you were doing was terribly wrong, and that you were capable of saying no to Scarlett. Your autism cannot provide any real excuse for the offence."

She also told Radcliffe that she was "certain that at least some of the wounds were inflicted" by him. While she cannot be sure "who did what", she added: "That does not matter for today's purposes." She continued: "Both intended she should die."

Mrs Justice Yip delivering her sentence

She told the pair: "This was a murder involving sadistic conduct. You both took part in a brutal and planned murder which was sadistic in nature, and where a secondary motive was hostility towards Brianna because of her transgender identity.

"This was a murder of particularly high seriousness. You picked Brianna because you both thought she would be an easy target. She thought you [Jenkinson] were her friend."

Deanna Heer, prosecuting, told the court the murder is a "very unusual case" with little legal precedent. She added: "The prosecution would submit that there is evidence which is capable of proving that this offence was motivated at least in part by hostility towards Brianna's transgender identity. In Eddie's case there was evidence that he spoke about Brianna in disparaging terms with respect to her transgender identity."

Brianna's tragic murder is a "painful reminder" of the struggle and challenges the trans community faces, a campaigning group said (PA)

Footage shared by Cheshire Police shows the moment Jenkinson was arrested. In the clip, the tearful juvenile mutters: "how come I am a suspect" as officers detain her. Jenknson was arrested at her home in Warrington at 7.32pm on February 12 last year, while Ratcliffe was held at his home in Leigh, Greater Manchester at 7.34pm, their trial was told. Ratcliffe was found upstairs at his home by police when they attended. He was initially seen handcuffed and on knees. Additional videos released today show the moment Ratcliffe casually got on his bus home after killing Brianna.

During the sentencing hearing, Richard Pratt KC, defending Jenkinson, said: It would seem completely extraordinary, but for the evidence of her interests and her admiration for notorious killers."

At the start of sentencing today, Jenkinson has admitted for the first time stabbing Brianna. During the trial, she maintained that it was Radcliffe who had stabbed Brianna. Deanna Heer KC, prosecuting, told Manchester Crown Court the 16-year-old had been seen by a psychiatrist after she was convicted of murder last December and made “admissions”.

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She said: "She said Eddie had thrown Brianna to the floor and stabbed her three or four times then he panicked and said he did not want to kill her, so she carried on and stabbed her a number of times. When asked how many, she answered, ‘A lot.’ She was satisfied and excited by what she was doing.”

Bradley Jolly