24 January 2024 , 11:30
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Brianna Ghey’s mum called the killers of her daughter “cowards" and wants them to stay in prison “as long as possible”.
The 16-year-old was stabbed with a hunting knife 28 times in her head, neck, chest and back after being lured to Linear Park, Culcheth, a village near Warrington, on the afternoon of February 11 last year. A boy and a girl were found guilty of the "frenzied" murder, at Manchester Crown Court last December.
The pair, identified only as Girl X and Boy Y, aged 16 but 15 at the time, had denied murder and each blamed the other for the killing of the transgender teenager, described as "horrific" by detectives.
After the teenage killers were convicted, Brianna’s mother Esther Ghey called for “empathy and compassion” for their families as “they too have lost a child” and “must live the rest of their lives knowing what their child has done”.
And while she continues to have compassion for the parents of the killers, she believes the teenagers who committed the crime were beyond rehabilitation. “They're cowards really and it shows the character of them,” she told Good Morning Britain.
Man in 30s dies after being stabbed in park sparking police probe
Esther Ghey speaking on Good Morning Britain (ITV)She added: “Maybe if they had admitted it or shown some remorse I would feel some sympathy for them. But the fact that they both pointed the the finger and neither of them admitted anything and there was no emotion there... I don't feel guilty that they've been sent to prison.”
On the impending sentencing of the pair she continued; “As long as possible really. At this moment in time I don't think there's any rehabilitation. So if not forever... I don't know how I would feel further down the line if they did show any change in their behaviour.”
Reflecting on the situation for the killers’ parents, Ms Ghey said it must be difficult for them. “When do we stop blaming the parents? What age do we stop blaming the parents? Nobody wants their child to commit such a crime and nobody plans to bring a child up like that,” she said. “People need to show some empathy and compassion to them as well because they don't need a constant reminder of what their child has done. They know very well what their child has done.”
The handwritten note detailing a 'plan to kill' Brianna Ghey (MEN Media)During the trial the court heard that after arresting the pair, police found thehandwritten note in girl X's bedroom and hundreds of messages between the pair, including the plans to kill Brianna and others. Both killers had a fascination for violence, murder and torture the trial heard, with Girl X enjoying watching "snuff" and killing videos on the dark web. Girl X also compiled notes on serial killers, including Richard Ramirez, known as the Night Stalker, and the notorious cannibal, Jeffrey Dahmer.
Brianna was killed in a park near Warrington (PA)The pair drew up a "kill list" of four other children before settling on Brianna as the target, Girl X sharing with Boy Y a handwritten plan of how to carry out the murder. Police discovered a handwritten note detailing a “plan to kill” Brianna in the bedroom of Girl X more than a month after her death - the note is believed to have been sent from Girl X's phone to Boy Y on February 3.
Outside court, Detective Chief Superintendent Mike Evans, head of crime at Cheshire Police, said: "If you can imagine if you download an iPhone, you get about 11,000 pages. So, trying to go through that it wasn't a case of all sudden, 'Bang. Here's these five text messages'. It was a slow (process), almost a slow reveal. I do accept now, looking at it, you sort of go, 'Wow'. There's not many murders where you get from planning to execution almost documented, word for word."