Brianna Ghey's mum's heartbreaking act so daughter's room is 'how she'd like it'

15 February 2024 , 11:26

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Esther Ghey, pictured with daughter Brianna, is campaigning for measures to protect children

The mum of murdered teenager Brianna Ghey said she's received "hateful comments" online as she warned laws to protect children don't go far enough.

Esther Ghey, who is campaigning for social media companies to act more responsibly, said new legislation fails to shield youngsters from vile bullying and hatred. Her daughter, who was transgender, was just 16 when she was killed last year.

In an interview on LBC, Esther paid tribute to Brianna - and revealed she had originally wanted to be called Britney before being persuaded to compromise. Esther added that Brianna would have been first on the dancefloor when she marries long-term partner Wes Powell, who Esther described as her "rock", in the summer.

She added that she's "tarted up" Brianna's room to make it how she would have liked it, with a picture wall of happy memories and items collected at vigils giving the family comfort.

Brianna was just 16 when she was murdered last year

Esther said: "That room was it was a little bit of a mess, so I've just tarted it up a little bit and it's how she would have liked it. She always wanted to have a pink, fluffy rug, which I didn't let her have because she'd take drinks upstairs and spill them all over the floor.

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"But she's got a pink, fluffy rock now. And we've got lots of things that we've collected at vigils and things that have been sent to me from really kind members of the public. It's a nice place to sit in and to remember Brianna.

"We've got a photo wall with all of the pictures of happy memories." She added: "We've got Brianna's ashes in there as well, because she wouldn't have wanted to be buried. She would have wanted to be at home with us."

Describing the need for tougher measures to protect children, Esther said the Government's flagship Online Safety Act isn't enough. She said: "Don't get me wrong I am all for free speech - but some of the comments I have seen on social media posts and some of the articles that I've done, they are just hateful comments. The Online Safety Bill is not going to protect children and young people from seeing that kind of horrible content, because I don't think that will be deemed as harmful."

Speaking to LBC, Esther recounted how Brianna had chosen her name. She said: "She actually wanted to be called Britney. I said there's no way that she can be called Britney, so we managed to settle on a compromise and she chose the name Brianna."

Esther is championing mindfulness lessons in schools, teaching children how to look after her mental health. She said Brianna had struggled as a teenager, and this could have made a huge difference to her.

"I feel that Brianna may have had happier teenage years when she was with us," she said. "She struggled with her mental health. She had anxiety, she had an eating disorder, she was self-harming. And I feel that at that young age, she was taught how to take care of her mental health, how to build resilience, that could have helped her in later years."

Esther is calling for the rollout of software that flags to parents if their children are searching concerning words. This might have helped identify some of the hateful content Brianna's killers Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe were accessing, she said.

Describing her desire to promote mindfulness, she said: "Knowing how much Brianna struggled and how much I struggle as a parent, I've got a voice and I want to be the voice of all the parents. And I really want to help people, I want to help young people, I want to help parents and teachers."

Dave Burke