Brianna Ghey's mum tears up as she discusses meeting family of daughter's killer
Brianna Ghey's mum held back tears as she spoke about meeting the family of Scarlett Jenkinson and says she has no hate for her daughter's killer.
Esther Ghey met the mum and uncle of her 16-year-old daughter's murderer - who did not wish to be named - in their hometown of Warrington, Cheshire, last Tuesday. Just over a month ago, Jenkinson and co-defendant Eddie Ratcliffe, both also 16, were sentenced to at least 20 years behind bars.
They were 15 when they carried out the "frenzied and ferocious" murder in Culcheth's Linear Park, Warrington, in February 2023. They stabbed Brianna a total of 28 times with a hunting knife in the "sustained and violent" assault inflicted with "considerable force" to her head, chest, back and neck, Manchester Crown Court heard last year.
Esther took time away from her campaigns to take part in the private in-person meeting in which the trio discussed family, mindfulness, the dangers of mobile phones for children and the ways they can work together, including the Peace in Mind campaigns.
In an interview released on Monday, she said the meeting was "important to understand how they were as a family". She continued: "The crime that’s been committed has impacted so many other people and obviously what they’ve gone through is terrible as well. They’ve lost a child…and they’ve also got to live with what’s happened for the rest of their life.
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Esther Ghey was tearful as she discussed meeting Scarlett Jenkinson's family (BBC)"As a parent you would never want to give up on your child and you will always have that maternal instinct there and you want to support them, regardless. In my mind, I think if they’ve been through what I’ve been through they possibly feel the same."
Asked how she managed to have the conversation and "not feel anger, rage resentment and hatred", mum-of-two Esther, 37, said: "I genuinely don’t feel any of those towards Scarlett’s parents and I actually don’t feel that towards Scarlett either because I know that all of these emotions and feelings like hate...it’s only going to impact me.
"I could either take what’s happened and hide away at home virtually crippled with hate and wanting to get revenge or I can try to take a more positive approach and make something good out of an absolutely horrific situation, and I choose to do the latter. I don’t want to be a victim, I don’t want this to impact the rest of my life and stop me progressing and stop me being productive, and hopefully making a change in society as well. Things happen and you can either use them as a lesson and where can we go from here? Or they can break you and I won’t be broken."
Esther said she does not hate Jenkinson (BBC)Describing the meeting itself, Esther said: "It was emotional. I’m really glad that we had the meeting. Both Scarlett’s mum and uncle are very nice people - they’re just normal people. And I think that what has happened has impacted their family massively, just the same as it’s impacted mine. We had a few very personal…we spoke about very personal things and she was very open with me and she was so respectful as well."
Then, with tears welling in her eyes, she said: "I think that her coming to see me shows a great deal of bravery on her part as well. It was a very emotional meeting but I’m so glad that I did that and I appreciate them for giving me that opportunity as well." Asked if the meeting has changed her mindset at all, she said: "It hasn’t changed how I feel, so I’m going to continue working on the campaigns and trying to make society, I suppose, more empathetic, resilient and a safer place to be.
Brianna Ghey with her mum"Within this meeting we discussed how potentially she could be part of this as well…I’d like her to join me and do something positive because I think it would be good for her healing as well because it’s helped me so much. I don’t know how that would look at this moment in time."
Referring to whether she holds any regrets around what she could have done at the time of Brianna's murder, Esther said: "I think that’s human nature and we can always look back and we can always see things that we wish we could have done differently. For me, it’s not even things that could have prevented what happened, but it’s why did I shout at her for something that was so silly and I suppose you just think you’re going to have your child forever."
Esther during a meeting with Keir Starmer (Getty Images)Esther went on to say that, as a former teacher, Scarlett's mum was "really interested" in the two Peace in Mind campaigns to get mindfulness training into schools through Mindfulness in Schools Project (MiSP) and better child safeguarding for social media and mobile phones.
Last week, Esther met with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Michelle Donelan, to discuss her campaigns, having met with Labour Party leader Keir Starmer earlier in the month. She described as a "great start in the discussing the issues and challenges that face our children today".
Scarlett Jenkinson (Cheshire Police / SWNS)
Eddie Ratcliffe (Cheshire Police / SWNS)Esther is also proud to announce her plans to set up a CIC (Community Interest Company) to continue her campaigns around mindfulness and mobile phone usage. She said: “I’ve been overwhelmed by the support the Peace in Mind campaign has received. So to continue this legacy for Brianna, I wanted to create a Community Interest Company to continue its good work. The new company is called Peace and Mind UK.
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“Our mission is to create a safer, more empathetic and resilient society. Our two focuses remain around mindfulness in schools, where we will continue to work with Mindfulness in Schools Project (MiSP) to train more teachers across the country, and to continue our campaign for better safeguarding around social media and mobile phones. We have already been invited back to Westminster for a follow up meeting with Michelle Donelan MP around the Online Safety Bill.”
Jenkinson, from Culcheth, and Ratcliffe, from Leigh, Greater Manchester, found guilty of Brianna's murder by a jury last December. In February the pair, now 16, were sentenced to life, with Jenkinson told she would serve at least 22 years and Ratcliffe a minimum of 20. Last week it was revealed Ratcliffe has asked for permission to appeal his sentence.
For those looking to support the company, visit www.peaceandminduk.org
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