The teenage murderers who violently killed transgender teenager Brianna Ghey have been jailed for life and given minimum terms of 22 and 20 years before parole.
Known until today as ‘Girl X’ and ‘Boy Y’, the identities of Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe - both aged 16 - were concealed due to legal reasons surrounding their age.
Sentencing, Mrs Justice Yip said the murder was “brutal” and “sadistic” and that a secondary motive was Brianna’s trans identity.
The pair carried out the “disturbing” plan to murder Brianna, 16, last February in a “frenzied and ferocious” knife attack.
Yip offered her "deepest sympathy" for the family of Brianna Ghey as she outlined horrifying details about the sickening, premeditated attack.
"I don’t want to dwell on the murder itself but it was brutal," she said, explaining that Brianna suffered 28 stab wounds and "wounds to the arms show she tried to defend herself".
Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe were named for the first time today
"Taken together the injuries point to a sustained and very violent assault."
She said Jenkinson wanted to "make a real victim feel pain and fear", while Ratcliffe "supported" the fantasies.
Jenkinson, currently held in Adel Beck secure children’s home in Leeds, was given a minimum term of 22 years before parole by trial.
Ratcliffe, currently at Barton Moss secure children’s home in Salford, was given a minimum of 20 years before parole.
The sentencing came after prosecutor Deanna Heer KC told of how Jenkinson had been "excited" by the killing and had intended to take a part of Brianna’s body, “as a token, part of her flesh”. Meanwhile, Ratcliffe targeted Brianna because she was trans.
Heer told Manchester Crown Court the 16-year-old had been seen by a psychiatrist after she was convicted of murder last December and made “admissions”.
Mrs Justice Yip said the murder was 'brutal' and 'sadistic'
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Heer said: “She said effectively, she said that at the time of the killing she had in fact administered stab wounds herself.
“She had snatched the knife from Eddie’s hand and stabbed Brianna repeatedly.
“She said Eddie had thrown Brianna to the floor and stabbed her three or four times then he panicked and said he did not want to kill her, so she carried on and stabbed her a number of times.
“When asked how many, she answered, ‘A lot.’ She was satisfied and excited by what she was doing.”
Jenkinson and Ratcliffe were found guilty of Brianna’s murder by a jury’s unanimous verdict at Manchester Crown Court in December.
The 12 members of the jury were presented with evidence throughout the trial, which spanned just under three weeks. One piece of that evidence included a hand-written ‘murder plan’ which had been found by police in Scarlett’s bedroom.
On the paper, it described the pair’s intentions; including details such as “he stabs her in the back as I stab her in the stomach.”
Brianna Ghey’s murderers used a hunting knife to carry out their attack
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Eddie Ratcliffe lured Brianna Ghey to the park where she was murdered
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Scarlett Jenkinson wrote a 'murder plan' in her bedroom
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The jury also heard a 999 call from Kathryn Vize – a dog-walker who accidentally found Brianna’s body, which had been stabbed 28 times with a hunting knife.
In the call, Vize is audibly distressed, describing the bloodied body of the young girl lying in front of her.
She later tells the operator, “I don’t think there’s anything you can do for her.”
Details of Brianna’s final hours were outlined to the jurors, who heard that Jenkinson had lured her “friend” to Culcheth Linear Park near Warrington, under the pretence of taking drugs.
Meanwhile, she was also texting Ratcliffe, saying things like, “I don’t want to wait, I just want her to die. I want to see pure horror on her face and hear her scream in pain.”
After the pair were found guilty, Brianna’s parents – Esther Ghey and Peter Spooner – spoke on the steps outside Manchester Crown Court.
Peter described the guilt he felt that he had not been able to protect his daughter, whilst Esther asked for the public to show Jenkinson and Ratcliffe’s family some kindness.
She said: "Please have some empathy and compassion for the families of the young people convicted of this horrific crime.
"They too have lost a child, and they must live the rest of their lives knowing what their child has done."
Screen grab taken from Ring doorbell footage shows Brianna Ghey leaving home on the morning of her murder
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Screen grab taken from CCTV footage shows Brianna Ghey travelling on the no28 bus on the morning of her murder
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Reading a statement to the court today, Brianna’s father Peter Spooner said being the father of a transgender child had been “a difficult thing to deal with” but he had been “proud to gain another beautiful daughter”.
He said: “We were forming a new relationship and these two murderers have stolen that from us both.
“I hate how Brianna’s life has been brutally taken away from her and she has been deprived of the life she wanted to live. She never had the chance to sit her exams or go on to further education.
“Now my world has been torn apart, justice may have been done with the guilty verdicts, but no amount of time spent in prison will be enough for these monsters.
“I cannot call them children as that makes them sound naive or vulnerable which they are not, they are pure evil, Brianna was the vulnerable one.”
