The Brianna Ghey trial is now underway with two teenagers accused of murdering the transgender 16-year-old by stabbing her 28 times with a hunting knife.
The 16-year-old was stabbed in the head, chest, back and neck while in Culcheth Linear Park, near Warrington, Cheshire, in February this year. The defendants, a girl, 16, identified only as X, and a boy, 16, identified only as Y, were both aged 15 at the time.
Both suspects deny murder, as they’re basically pointing the finger at each other. Unfortunately for both, police uncovered text messages between the pair plotting to kill Brianna with an overdose of cocaine, before deciding: “Let’s just stab her, it would be more fun”. Girl X then sent Boy Y a picture of a handwritten note titled, “Saturday 11th February 2023. Victim: Brianna Ghey”, which is about as incriminating as it gets really.
In other text messages, the teenagers discussed whether Brianna would “scream like a boy or a girl” when they killed her, with Girl X initially confiding to Boy Y that she had developed something of an ‘obsession’ with Brianna.
On 15 Dec 2022, X sent a message to Y which said: “I’m obsessed over someone I know but don’t have feelings for them … She’s called Brianna … I don’t know how to explain. Also she has a d— lol.”
Manchester Crown Court heard that Y responded to the message with transgender slurs, but X told him Brianna “sounded just like a girl and looked really pretty”.
The court heard that Y responded: “I don’t think you’re necessarily in love but I think you’re more curious and intrigued by its unnatural nature.” X agreed that she found Brianna “fascinating”, adding, “She’s really different”.
Somehow, X’s obsession with Brianna turned darker in the weeks that followed, culminating in a joint decision with Y to murder her, though they had actually drawn up a kill list of 5 targets before deciding on the transgender schoolgirl.
After killing Brianna, X posted a fake tribute on Facebook describing her as an “amazing friend” and that it was “so f****** sickening” that she had been murdered.
Aside from the incriminating texts between them, blood-splattered trainers and a blood-splattered ski jacket were found in Boy Y’s house, with tests confirming Brianna’s DNA in the blood.
In Girl Y’s house, a handwritten plan to kill Brianna was discovered, which read: “Give alcohol with sleeping pills, slit throat, dismember body, place pieces in bin bags, bury bags 7 feet underground, bones including, bury at” and then “get her to go to linear park, go to the bridge I usually go to, someone jumps out and restrains her. Plan B. I kill her”
Ultimately it doesn’t seem that this particular plan was followed and they just stabbed Brianna 28 times and left her body in the park, where she was discovered the next day. It would seem this is a fairly straightforward case where the suspects are quite obviously guilty and will be found as such. Fair to say we can file this one under the category of ‘transphobic hate crime’, given the preoccupation with Brianna was based around the fact she was “different”, even if it did initially seem that Girl X fancied her.
A tragic case no matter how you cut it. Let’s hope that justice is done in the end and that the verdict brings some semblance of closure to Brianna’s friends and family.
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