Brianna Ghey trial verdict: Judge to decide today whether teenage killers can be named

A judge will decide whether to lift anonymity orders protecting the identities of Brianna Ghey’s teenage killers, and allow the media to publish their names, at a hearing on Thursday.

Brianna, 16, 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, Cheshire, on the afternoon of February 11.

Her killers, identified only as girl X and boy Y – both now 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.

The following day, the girl lured transgender teenager Brianna Ghey to a park in Culcheth, near Warrington, having already tried and failed to kill the 16-year-old with an overdose of ibuprofen. In a frenzied attack, the young killers stabbed Brianna 28 times with a hunting knife, the first victim from their “kill list” of at least five child targets.

Now convicted of Brianna’s murder following a four-week trial at Manchester Crown Court, the pair are facing mandatory jail terms for life.

A judge will decide whether to lift anonymity orders protecting the identities of Brianna Ghey’s teenage killers, and allow the media to publish their names, at a hearing today (21 December).

Brianna, 16, was stabbed with a hunting knife 28 times after being lured to Linear Park in Cheshire, on the afternoon of 11 February.

Her killers, identified only as girl X and boy Y – both now aged 16 but 15 at the time, had denied murder and each blamed the other for the killing of the transgender teenager.

Barrister Kirsty Brimelow KC appeared on Good Morning Britain on Thursday to explain why the teenage killers could now be named.

Two teenagers have been found guilty of murdering schoolgirl Brianna Ghey in a frenzied killing planned weeks in advance.

Brianna, 16, was stabbed 28 times with a hunting knife by the two callous teens, who she believed to be her friends but who had been planning the horrifying attack in meticulous detail behind her back.

The pair, a boy and a girl both now aged 16, who both attempted to blame each other, were described as warped and obsessed with murder by detectives during a harrowing four-week trial at Manchester Crown Court.

My colleague Tara Cobham has the full report:

The parents of Brianna Ghey made emotional statements after two teenagers, known only as girl X and boy Y, were found guilty of the 16-year-old’s murder, at Manchester Crown Court:

The jury heard girl X had saved boy Y’s phone number in her phone under the name “Tesco John Wick” and that John Wick was a character from a film about a violent hitman played by Keanu Reeves.

The court heard that teenager X told Y over WhatsApp that she was “obsessed” with Brianna, and police would find a crumpled handwritten plan to kill her on X’s bedroom floor.

Searching X’s home after her arrest, officers found the note headed “Saturday, 11th February, 2023. Victim: Brianna Ghey,” with the word “plan” written underneath and a smiley face and a heart shape drawn on the top right-hand corner.

The note read: “Meet [boy Y] at wooden posts 1pm. Walk down to library, bus stop. Wait until Brianna gets off bus, then the 3 of us walk to Linear Park. Go to the pipe/tunnel area. I say code word to [boy Y]. He stabs her in the back as I stab her in stomach. [Boy Y] drags the body into the area. We both cover up the area with logs etc.”

The girl convicted of Brianna Ghey’s murder said she had a knife like the one used by the murderous barber Sweeney Todd, a character she appeared to idolise after having seen the film of the same name “9,000 times”.

The court heard that the teenage boy convicted of her murder sent an image of the weapon used to murder Brianna on New Year’s Day.

The £13.50 wooden-handled hunting knife was found in his bedroom with Brianna’s blood on it and his DNA on the handle. His internet browsing history from the end of last year also showed searches on various poisons, including VX nerve agents, sarin and tabun.

The teenage boy accused of murdering transgender teenager Brianna Ghey claimed he was “admiring trees” at the time of her stabbing – as he blamed his co-defendant for the teenager’s death.

Boy Y told the trial his hunting knife had been used to stab Brianna but claimed girl X, his 16-year-old co-defendant, who also can’t be named because of her age, was the one who carried out the fatal attack.

My colleague Matt Mathers reports: