Brianna Ghey killers' 24 hours after murder - sickening texts and chilling CCTV
Within 24 hours of Brianna Ghey being murdered, police investigators had identified the killers - Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe - who had disturbingly planned to stab their 16-year-old victim to death.
The two teenagers who murdered Brianna, previously referred to as Girl X and Boy Y, have been named and pictured today after Mrs Justice Yip lifted a ban on reporting their identities. Jenkinson and Ratcliffe were found guilty of plotting to torture and kill Brianna after a lengthy trial at Manchester Crown Court in December.
Brianna, 16, was murdered in the coldest fashion in Culcheth Linear Park in Warrington, Cheshire, on February 11, 2023. The twisted pair had been discussing their plans to stage a killing frenzy for weeks and stabbed Brianna to death 28 times in the head, neck and body. Afterward, they returned to their separate homes and continued their cover-up.
At 3.13pm, dog walker Kathryn Vize saw Jenkinson and Ratcliffe in the park and disrupted their 'murder plan'. She found Brianna gravely injured and called 999 while the killers ran away. At 4.02pm, Brianna was pronounced dead at the scene. Jenkinson and Ratcliffe were spotted on a dashcam walking together down a lane at 3.15pm, carrying on the day as normal, as if nothing had happened.
CCTV footage showed them walking towards Jenkinson's home. She arrived at around 3.20pm and deleted a Snapchat conversation she'd had with Brianna at 3.44pm. Meanwhile, Ratcliffe was caught 'apparently wiping his hands, which appeared to be red in colour' on CCTV before getting the bus back to his home, arriving at about 4pm.
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In the aftermath of Brianna's murder, Jenkinson and Ratcliffe "feigned ignorance" and created matching "false defences", Prosecutor Deanna Heer KC told the court last year. Ratcliffe messaged Jenkinson at 4.28pm asking: "So how's your cat?" to which she replied: "Good loll. How's yours." He said: "It keeps trying to purr."
Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe have been named and pictured as Brianna Ghey's murderers todayThey then set about attempting to craft a subtle cover-up story. Jenkins messaged Ratcliffe to say a "woman got stabbed" in the park and he replied "Holy crap". On the night of the murder, Jenkins asked Ratcliffe at 11.11pm: "Do you have anxiety about getting caught?" He replied: "Probably." She said: "You're not going to get caught don't worry. Police are sh*** here."
The following day, Jenkinson, who had befriended Brianna, messaged her phone number to say: "Girl, is everything okay? Some teenage girl got killed in Linear Park its on news everywhere. And why did you ditch us for some random man from Manchester. Like wtf."
Around 5pm that day, Jenkinson's mum phoned police to tell them her daughter had been "in the park when Brianna looked at her phone and said she needed to meet some boy, a 17-year-old from Manchester who was going to meet her in his car."
Meanwhile, Ratcliffe looked up penalties online for supplying or withholding information on the Crown Prosecution Service website. Jenkinson then posted a tribute to Brianna on Snapchat, describing her as an "amazing friend", and that what happened to her was "so f***ing sickening".
The crumpled handwritten note detailing a 'plan to kill' Brianna was found in Jenkinson's room (MEN Media)"She said Brianna just stormed off and that was the last time she saw her," Ms Heer told the court. Jenkinson messaged Ratcliffe to warn him that her mum had spoken to the police, and told him to, "Make sure story adds up say to police everything we met Brianna at half 1 walked to linear and sat and chilled on the bench, then Brianna looked at her phone and said she was gonna meet some lad and walked off."
Ms Heer said: "Jenkinson repeated to Ratcliffe the story she had just provided via her mother to the police, so that he would know what to say." Within 24 hours of the murder, officers identified the suspects and found the knife and blood-soaked clothes in Ratcliffe's bedroom, and the 'murder plan' in Jenkinson's, which had a love heart and smiley face doodled on the top corner of the page.
The pair, both then 15, were arrested 'simultaneously' at their homes. Upon arrest, Jenkinson asked officers, "How come I am a suspect?", newly released bodycam footage revealed today. Ratcliffe said to police, "I can explain" after they turned up at his doorstep. When cross-examined, the two pals blamed each other for Brianna's death and both said their backs were turned when the other defendant began stabbing Brianna in a "frenzied" fashion.
The murder weapon was found in Ratcliffe's bedroom within 24 hours of Brianna's death (PA)Under arrest, Jenkinson laughed 17 times during her account to police detectives. "I'm good at hiding stuff and playing the victim," she had told Ratcliffe. Today, it was reported Jenkinson admitted for the first time stabbing Brianna herself.
Ms Heer told Manchester Crown Court: "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."
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After the four-week trial in December, Detective Chief Superintendent Mike Evans explained it became clear early on that the pair believed they could cover their tracks. "These are really high functioning, intelligent children," he said. "I know people sat at home reading this will have this sort of image that they've built themselves.
"But actually they're both really clever kids and very bright, very articulate. I think probably their downfall has been their confidence or arrogance around the fact that they thought that they could take another human life and then thought there would be no comeuppance for them and they'd never get caught."
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