Teen 'planned to use Sweeney Todd knife sharp enough to kill Brianna Ghey' before murder

Two teenagers accused of the murder of 16-year-old Brianna Ghey stood trial today after the court heard they planned to use a “knife sharp enough” to stab the transgender student.

Brianna was found with multiple stab wounds on a path in Culcheth Linear Park, near Warrington, Cheshire, shortly after 3pm on Saturday, February 11 2023.

A girl and a boy, both aged 15 at the time and from the local area, were arrested and charged with the murder of Brianna, a year 11 pupil at Birchwood High School, in Warrington.

Both defendants, now aged 16, are standing trial at Manchester Crown Court, with both denying the murder charge.

Neither accused can be named because of their age and are identified only as girl X, from Warrington, and boy Y, from Leigh, Greater Manchester.

Deanna Heer KC, prosecuting, said messages recovered from the phones of girl X and boy Y showed a “preoccupation” with “violence, torture and death” and recorded them discussing how they wanted to kill people they knew.

She said: “If that was not an unusual way for two teenagers to speak to one another, the messages demonstrate also how, over time, they encouraged one another to think about how they would actually carry out a killing, and the messages show how they planned together to kill Brianna in just the way that she was in fact killed.”

In November 2022, they discussed killing a child referred to as boy M, the court heard.

In one message, girl X said: “If I do end up killing boy M, I have a really sharp blade, the same one that Sweeney Todd uses. If we kill boy M can I keep some things, a couple of teeth and an eye.”

Deanna Heer KC told Manchester Crown Court girl X claimed to have killed two people in messages to boy Y, but there was no evidence she had.

She said they spoke in messages about other people they wanted to kill and by January 26 had compiled a list of at least four people, as well as Brianna. The court heard girl X created a fake Instagram account to contact one of their targets, referred to as boy E, but it was blocked. In a message read to the court, girl X told boy Y: “If we can’t get boy E tomorrow we can kill Brianna.”

Boy Y replied saying: “Yeah, it’ll be easier and I want to see if it will scream like a man or a girl.”

The pair discussed meeting Brianna and killing her at Culcheth Linear Park the following day, the court heard. In one message, girl X said: “I want to stab her at least once even if she’s dead jus coz its fun lol.”

Ms Heer said girl X and boy Y did meet each other in Culcheth on January 28, but girl X told him Brianna said she couldn’t come.

Brianna’s parents described her as “a larger-than-life character who would leave a lasting impression on all that met her”.

According to her friends, she would often use her platform on TikTok to help younger transgender girls safely and legally access hormone replacement therapy.

They said she had faced years of bullying and harassment at school, with one of her final videos on the social media platform admitting she was “excluded from school”.

The court was told in December last year girl X messaged boy Y telling him she was “obsessed over someone” called Brianna but didn’t have feelings for them.

After she sent pictures of Brianna to him, boy Y asked: “Is it a femboy or a tranny?”

Girl X told him Brianna was trans, sounded just like a girl and looked really pretty, the court was told.

Ms Heer said on January 23 girl X messaged boy Y telling him she had given Brianna ibuprofen gel tablets that “should have been enough to kill her”.

Brianna’s mother Esther Ghey recalled her daughter had been sick around that time, the court heard.

In early December, girl X sent boy Y a video which was apparently an advert for an underground site for people who like rape, snuff, torture and murder, Ms Heer told the court.

Girl X told boy Y: “I love watching torture vids. Real ones on the dark web”, the jury was told.

The court heard on January 1, boy Y sent girl X a photo of a hunting knife and told her: “Spent my money. I bought a knife.”

Ms Heer said: “It was this knife, members of the jury, that was to be used to kill Brianna Ghey just six weeks after this image had been sent.”

The trial continues.