15 February 2024 , 12:11
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Brianna Ghey's mum has said she hopes to meet the mother of her daughter's killer.
Esther Ghey confirmed today arrangements are in place to meet Scarlett Jenkinson's mum, although she "doesn't blame the parents" of Jenkinson or Eddie Ratcliffe for the teenager's death. Speaking on Good Morning Britain, she said: "I know how difficult it is to be a parent in this day and age with social media and mobile phones and it’s so difficult to keep track of what your children are accessing or what they’re viewing.
"When I was young, you had peer pressure but now you have everything that’s negative in the world and young people are so easily influenced so I don’t blame the parents. They have also been through something really horrific.
"They’ve had to sit in court and listen to what their children have actually done. I would like to meet Scarlett’s mother. It’s potentially something that will be happening but it will be happening in a very private and personal way. But I’d like to know more about how it was for her too."
When Esther Ghey was today asked if a new law was needed to protect children, she stressed firms need to do more. She said: "Smartphone companies should have a moral responsibility and you should really want to do more. But I think that big companies like that are all about how much money they can generate and they don’t necessarily think about the impact it is having on the public, so I think that maybe there would have to be a law just to make sure it is properly enforced."
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Esther Ghey pictured arriving at a vigil in Golden Square, Warrington (PA)Brianna was murdered by teenagers Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe, who were both locked up for life this month. Esther is campaigning for under-16s to be blocked from accessing social media on smartphones. Jenkinson had previously watched videos of torture and murder online.
Esther, of Warrington, Cheshire, had earlier said smartphones and social media were “based on the kind of model gambling is”, adding: "It is having that constant gratification. You pull your screen down and you can see how many likes you are getting, and yeah, I think that young people really are addicted to their phones." On the dark web, Ms Ghey said she did not “understand how young people get access to such horrific things”.
Brianna was murdered in a Warrington park by two schoolmates (Cheshire Police / SWNS)Speaking on BBC Radio 4, Esther the Government’s Online Safety Act, aimed at protecting young people online, does not go far enough to keep youngsters safe. She added: "The second point is as well, that comments and free speech – and 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." Presenter Nick Robinson said Ms Ghey had made clear ahead of the interview she did not want to discuss the spat which occurred at Prime Minister’s Questions between Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer which referenced her daughter’s murder.