The girl and boy who murdered trans teenager Brianna Ghey are to be sentenced for murder and publicly named for the first time.
The defendants, both 16, identified only as girl X and boy Y during their four-week trial last December at Manchester Crown Court, face a mandatory life sentence.
They were aged 15 when they carried out the “disturbing” plan to murder Brianna, 16, in a “frenzied and ferocious” attack with a hunting knife.
Both will be named for the first time when they are sentenced later on Friday after a senior judge, Mrs Justice Yip, indicated she will lift a court order banning the press from identifying them.
Undated handout photo issued by Cheshire Police of the murder weapon. (Image: PA)
Anxious and vulnerable Brianna was stabbed 28 times in the head, neck, chest and back after being lured to Linear Park, Culcheth, a village near Warrington, Cheshire, on the afternoon of February 11 last year.
Each defendant had denied murder and blamed the other for the killing, which was described as “horrific” by detectives.
Intelligent, “high functioning” and coming from normal backgrounds, the trial heard the pair had a fascination with violence, torture and murder and a “thirst for killing”.
Neither had been in trouble with police before.
They had discussed Brianna’s murder for weeks, detailed in a handwritten murder plan and phone messages found by detectives.
READ MORE: Two 15-year-olds charged with teen's murder
Jurors were told it was “difficult to fathom” how the two child defendants could carry out such a disturbing crime.
Girl X, while aged 14, downloaded a TOR internet browser app to watch videos of the torture and murder of real people, in “red rooms” on the “dark web”.
She developed an interest in serial killers, making notes on their methods, and admitted enjoying “dark fantasies” about killing and torture, with the pair living in a secret world of warped interest in murder and cruelty, their trial heard.
READ MORE: Brianna Ghey murder trial to begin
Boy Y, who has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and is non-verbal, and girl X, diagnosed with traits of autism and ADHD, are both held in secure youth detention.
Girl X claimed that while she enjoyed fantasies about murder she never intended any of it to become reality while the boy claimed he just played along and never wanted to harm anyone.
They will be sentenced at Manchester Crown Court.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel