Trans girl Brianna Ghey, 16, ‘stabbed to death 28 times in planned attack by two teens’

27 November 2023, 16:01 | Updated: 27 November 2023, 16:23

A schoolgirl was stabbed 28 times in a "planned" killing by two teens who were "preoccupied with violence", a murder trial was told

Transgenser schoolgirl Brianna Ghey, 16, suffered catastrophic blood loss when she was knifed in the back and chest while in Linear Park, Culcheth, Warrington.

Manchester Crown Court was told Brianna had a catalogue of horror injuries inflicted on her by a teen girl known as X and boy known as Y.

X and Y, who were both 15 at the time of the killing, allegedly penetrated Brianna's throat and lungs with the blade.

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One stab wound reached a depth of 11cm and sliced through the teenager's heart. Jurors were told "many" of the stab wounds damaged Brianna's bones and would have required "considerable force".

Prosecutor Deanna Heer KC said there was "no doubt she was the victim of a sustained and violent assault".

She added: "There is no dispute that the male and female seen running away from Brianna’s body were these two defendants, X and Y. Nor is there any dispute that in the days and weeks leading up to that day, they had discussed killing her.

"Indeed, it is accepted that Brianna Ghey was killed with a knife that belonged to Y, a knife which he told X he would have with him that day and which was sharp enough to kill her.

"But each defendant denies that they are guilty of murder. Each denies that they participated in her killing at all. Each blames the other.

"The prosecution case is that, whoever delivered the fatal blows, both defendants are equally guilty. Acting together, they planned and executed their plan to kill her."

Ms Heer KC 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."

The horror unfolded on February 11 this year on a "dreary winter's day" in Culcheth Linear Park, Ms Heer said.

Kathyrn Vize and her husband Andrew were walking their dogs on a path when they spotted a man and woman on the path in front of them.

The court was told Mr Vize noticed the male had bent down "as if to tend to a dog" before he ran off with his female companion.

They then discovered the man had actually been bending over the "bloodied body of a young woman lying face down in the mud".

Paramedics were scrambled to the scene but sadly Brianna couldn't be saved and was declared dead at the scene.

X and Y, who legally can't be named, both deny murder.

The trial continues.