Life as a teenager in the modern world can be turbulent. Not only are there the physical and mental changes associated with adolescence, in the 21st century, young people also have to navigate the online realm.
Social media and the advent of the internet have forever changed how younger generations live their lives. For one young woman, it ended with her delving down a rabbit hole which culminated with a sickening crime.
In February 2023, the suburban peace of the quiet Cheshire commuter village of Culcheth was shattered by the murder of Brianna Ghey.
The 16-year-old transgender girl had been lured to her death by someone she saw as a friend. That friend – who can only be identified as Girl X at this stage – was obsessed. Obsessed with Brianna, obsessed with killing, obsessed with the darkest and most disturbing material she could find on the internet.
By the age of just 14, Girl X was watching videos about murder and torture.
READ MORE: Everything the judge said as she rules on naming Brianna Ghey’s murderers Boy Y and Girl X
READ MORE: Brianna Ghey: Family of Girl X receive ‘death threats’, while fears raised for Boy Y if he ‘becomes notorious’
Teenagers of that age might have been posting on Snapchat, Instagram or TikTok about their everyday lives. But Girl X’s interests lay in the macabre.
She wasn’t a true crime enthusiast who fed their interest with documentaries or podcasts. She wanted to look into the face of evil herself. As her warped fascinations consumed her, Girl X was able to access the dark web using the TOR browser – a sophisticated piece of software which allows users to peel back a layer of security to delve into the darkest crevices of the internet.
There, she was able to fuel her deepest, sickest desires, watching real people being killed with unspeakable cruelty.
“I’ve liked this stuff for a while, I’m just happy cos I’ve finally found a good red room (snuff movie site),” she would tell her childhood friend, Boy Y. Both were on the autistic spectrum. But what really drew them closer was a shared, sadistic fascination with violence and evil.
Boy Y claimed that Girl X had previously described herself as a ‘satanist’, and that she’d ‘joke about dead babies’. “I’m not really sure how to describe her personality, she’s not a normal person,” he would tell police.
Brianna Ghey had the misfortune to become a real character in the dark world of Girl X. A world in which fantasies of murder and torture were entwined with the mundane and the everyday.
One minute Girl X and Boy Y discussed his love life or what they had for tea, the next they plotted Brianna’s death. Brianna was an innocent victim as Girl X brought her darkest thoughts to reality – Boy Y had never met Brianna until the day of the murder.
But if it hadn’t been Brianna, it may have been any one of the four other children the pair discussed killing. Egged on by Girl X, Boy Y travelled to Culcheth with his hunting knife on February 11 after the pair had meticulously planned the killing on their phones.
Girl X could not explain how her interest in the grisly and grotesque began. But we know it ended with dog walkers finding Brianna, lying in Culcheth Linear Park, near Warrington, having been stabbed 28 times in a ferocious attack.
Girl X’s disturbing compulsions had emerged well before she met Brianna. As well as the ‘interest’ in murder and torture that began when she was 14, serial killers were another topic which grabbed her attention. “Dr Harold Shipman, aka Dr Death”, one note found in her bedroom read, referencing the family doctor turned mass murderer, whose crimes cast a shadow over Greater Manchester.
“Classification, serial killer,” it continued. Another note she’d written about ‘serial killer facts’ read: “Usually obsessed with manipulation and control.”
Although not a serial killer, Girl X may have gained some inspiration from those words. It was later argued that she may have tried to manipulate Boy Y, the ‘socially inept’ teenager who had sought advice from her about a crush, into returning the favour and helping her kill Brianna.
She certainly manipulated Brianna into making her believe that she liked her, when at some point during their friendship, she began to fantasise about killing her.
It was shortly after Girl X and Brianna first met, in October 2022, that Girl X first began sharing her innermost thoughts with Boy Y, who she’d known since the age of 11.
Many would have baulked at such gruesome conversations. But Boy Y didn’t seem to have a problem with it.
As she discussed the girl Boy Y was sweet on, they began talking about a boy who Boy Y feared may become his love rival. Soon, the chat turned to how they would kill him.
“I would like you to do as you see fit,” Boy Y told her. “If he’s guilty and you dispose of him, cut out his heart then cook it and feed it to your dog.”
Girl X realised that she had found someone who spoke her language of violence, torture and death. After successfully testing the boundaries, her online world began to merge even more with real life.
“The more you think about killing the more likely you are to kill someone..,” Boy Y warned her in one particularly prescient message, about two months before Brianna was murdered.
Girl X falsely claimed she’d already killed two people. But it was around this time that Brianna’s name first cropped up in conversations between the pair.
“I’m obsessed over someone I know, but don’t have feelings for them,” Girl X told him. “She’s called Brianna. I don’t know how to explain. Also she has a d*** lol.”
By this time Girl X had known Brianna for two months. They had socialised, hanging out at the shops or at McDonald’s.
The pair appeared to become friends. Girl X, who said she’d questioned her own gender, said she found Brianna ‘pretty’ and ‘attractive’.
All the while, in secret, Girl X discussed killing her. It was about a month after Girl X first mentioned Brianna to Boy Y in their WhatsApp messages that talk turned to preparations for the killing.
Exactly how and why Girl X went from talking of her attraction and obsession over Brianna, to plotting to murder her, may never be known.
The prosecution tried to pin her down on this point during her trial. “Did you find the idea of killing Brianna exciting?,” lead prosecutor Deanna Heer KC asked.
“I guess so, yes,” she replied. The KC asked: “Did you want to kill her because she was transgender?”
“No,” was the reply during the cross-examination. The prosecutor continued: “Did you think she was prettier than you?”
“In a way, yes,” Girl X replied.
While battling anxiety, Brianna was an outgoing, fun loving girl who built up a huge online fanbase with her TikTok videos and online posts. Was Girl X, an apparent loner who spent her time in her bedroom playing video games, jealous of Brianna’s popularity online?
She soon claimed to have secretly poisoned Brianna by giving her ibuprofen tablets. “Brianna is still ill,” she told Boy Y. “Those tablets I gave her might slowly be killing her.”
Indeed, Brianna was violently ill around the same period.
Over the next few days, in January, a kill list of up to four people, not including Brianna, had been discussed by the pair.
Girl X went to extreme lengths to try to lure a boy she proclaimed to be a ‘nonce’, setting up a fake Instagram account as part of a bid to kill him.
“I know a hidden spot nobody goes to in linear park,” she told Boy Y of her plans for the child, known as Boy E during the trial.
“You manage to get him out and we meet up at the wooden posts in linear then be like let’s sit and chill somewhere we walk to the spot you restrain him and slit his throat and stab him and then I’ll help.”
But after the targeted boy sensibly blocked the Instagram account, attention turned back onto Brianna. “If we can’t get E tomorrow we can kill Brianna,” Girl X said.
“Yeah, it’ll be easier and I want to see if it will scream like a man or a girl,” was Boy Y’s chilling, vile response. As the planning for the appalling killing began in earnest, Girl X took the lead.
“Lets stab her,” she told Boy Y. “Original Boy E plan. Back and throat.”
“She’s agreed to come to Culcheth tomorrow,” Girl X told him. Brianna had been due to travel to Culcheth on January 28, but cancelled after she instead attended a meal for her stepfather’s birthday.
The killers still met up in Culcheth that day. They weren’t put off by Brianna’s no-show.
The day of the killing was simply re-arranged. After talk of trying to give Brianna an overdose, Girl X said: “Let’s just stab her. It’s more fun.”
Perhaps the most chilling evidence police recovered was missed during the first search of her home. It was during a subsequent raid, that the crumpled piece of paper itself was seized from Girl X’s bedroom.
“Saturday 11th February 2023. Victim: Brianna Ghey,” it read, in neat, considered handwriting. “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 the stomach. Boy Y drags the body into the area. We both cover up the area with logs etc.”
When Brianna agreed to meet up with her ‘friend’ Girl X on February 11, she had no idea she was walking into a trap.
Having built up the courage to take the bus to another village, a task her mum said she found difficult, Brianna was cruelly betrayed by someone she trusted.
Only Girl X knows exactly how Brianna went from someone she described as being attractive and pretty, to someone she showed murderous contempt for. She even had the arrogance to post a ‘tribute’ to Brianna online in the aftermath of her murder, knowing the crucial role she’d played in it.
But on February 2, she will face the consequences after she and Boy Y were both found guilty of murder, following a trial at Manchester Crown Court in which the full depths of their depravity were laid bare.
William Turner is a seasoned U.K. correspondent with a deep understanding of domestic affairs. With a passion for British politics and culture, he provides insightful analysis and comprehensive coverage of events within the United Kingdom.
