Brianna Ghey's killer was 'set to be expelled after spiking sweets'

One of transgender teenager Brianna Ghey's murderers was about to be expelled from school for spiking a girl with cannabis-laced sweets, an inquest has been told.

Scarlett Jenkinson was due to be permanently excluded on a date just two days after she and fellow killer Edward Sutcliffe would out the 'frenzied' attack on 16-year-old Brianna, Cheshire Coroner's Court heard.

The inquest is examining what information her school was given about Jenkinson, and whether the risks of placing she and Sutcliffe together in an inclusion unit were assessed.

A litany of incidents during Jenkinson's time at Culcheth High School in Cheshire has been revealed, including how she turned up drunk or smelling of cannabis.

And it was said that Jenkinson might have received different 'support' when transferred between schools weeks before the murder if staff had know she had 'spiked' another pupil, 13, with drugs.

Jenkinson, who was obsessed with serial killers and filled pages of notebooks writing about their methods and characters, attended Culcheth High alongside Ratcliffe, but after being moved to Birchwood Community High School in Warrington she became fixated on Brianna.

Jenkinson and Ratcliffe swapped messages online plotting to kill four other teenagers before settling on Brianna.

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On February 11 2023 they lured her to a park in Culcheth and stabbed her 28 times using a hunting knife Ratcliffe's parents bought him during a holiday to Bulgaria.

The twisted killers were handed life terms for murder last February, with a minimum of 22 years for Jenkinson and 20 years for Ratcliffe.

The inquest heard today the most detailed account yet of the incident where Jenkinson spiked a 13-year-old girl with cannabis-laced sweets in the library at Culcheth High on September 27 2022.

Culcheth High assistant headteacher Martin Cushing said he was alerted at lunchtime that the pupil had 'unknowingly eaten something' and began to feel 'unwell', and colleagues suspected it was 'cannabis edibles'.

'She was given it by Scarlett whilst in the library,' he added.

Jenkinson had allegedly been 'encouraging' pupils to eat the sweets, but while some refused, the 13-year-old shared two with her.

She then complained of feeling unwell, with staff recognising the signs that she was under the influence of drugs.

When questioned, Jenkinson admitted bringing drug-laced sweets into school after being 'given them by a boy'.

But she denied trying to trick anyone into eating them, Mr Cushing said, as she insisted that another pupil had taken them out of her pocket and claimed she had intended to consume them after lessons.

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Mr Cushing said he rang 111 and was advised that the 13-year-old's parents should take her to A&E.

He also informed Cheshire Police who spoke to the family, but later said they were not taking any further action as the girl's parents did not want to pursue it.

Her potential expulsion was revealed in an email from February 1 2023, as staff at Birchwood told Mr Cushing that Jenkinson was not meeting 'targets' for her transfer, which was still provisional at that stage.

In addition to poor attendance and amassing 19 negative behaviour points, she had been accused by fellow students of again bringing cannabis edibles into school, the email said.

Jenkinson had been searched and nothing was found, but her 'blazer pocket smelt strongly of cannabis', the email explained.

Under the terms of her 'managed move', there was a zero tolerance policy on bringing drugs into school.

Staff at Birchwood had tried to contact her parents, teacher Emma Sutton and Brian Jenkinson, to discuss next steps, but not heard back.

On February 10 – a Friday – Mr Cushing was informed that a meeting was planned for the following Monday, February 13, to discuss whether her transfer to Birchwood should be treated as 'failed'.

That would have led to Jenkinson being permanently excluded, the inquest heard.

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But instead, on the Saturday, Jenkinson and former Culcheth schoolfriend Eddie Ratcliffe, both then 15, lured 16-year-old Brianna to a park in the village and stabbed her to death in a 'frenzied' attack.

Both teenagers were arrested on suspicion of Brianna's murder at their family homes on the Sunday evening.

From February 15, paperwork was signed off meaning Jenkinson – who appeared in court that day accused of Brianna's murder – ceased to be a pupil at Birchwood.

Earlier today Mr Cushing was asked why Culcheth had offered Jenkinson a transfer to another school instead of permanently excluding her after the spiking incident the previous September.

He said official guidance required the school to take into account that Jenkinson – then in Year 11 – would be taking her GCSEs the following summer.

Additional factors were that Jenkinson was neither 'rude', 'defiant', or 'aggressive', he added, saying the school still had a 'duty of care' towards her.

Detailing incidents involving Jenkinson while she was at Culcheth High, designated safeguarding lead Suzy Saffery told today's proceedings they included turning up to school drunk and assaulting a fellow pupil.

In October 2020 she turned up at school 'smelling very strongly of cannabis', she said. A safeguarding referral was made but her family 'declined support'.

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There was no evidence she had been smoking the drug and none was found in her possession, Ms Saffery said.

In May 2021 Jenkinson was given a one-day internal exclusion for assaulting a fellow student and she received the same punishment in March 2022 after making a 'racist comment' to another pupil.

In May 2022 another girl alleged that Jenkinson had logged into her Snapchat without her consent and shared an 'inappropriate' image - but no disciplinary action was taken as it was one girl's word against another's, Ms Saffery said.

Then, in June 2022, Jenkinson was suspended for two days after turning up for school while 'under the influence' after drinking alcohol.

Ms Saffery said Jenkinson was 'signposted' to support for drug and alcohol abuse and self-harming but there was a 'history of non-engagement'.

She was finally moved to Birchwood after the spiking incident, which took place in the school library in September 2022.

But Ms Saffery said Jenkinson's disciplinary record was 'relatively short' for a student facing exclusion.

An independent safeguarding review into Jenkinson, now 17, later found mental health workers had been in contact the troubled teenager since November 2021.

But they and education professionals did not know about her 'fascination with violent acts' and had 'no reason to be concerned'.

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They were also unaware of her two previous attempts to poison Brianna in January last year nor that she used the dark web to watch videos of torture and killing.

The report, published in August, also found Jenkinson had told her parents and GP she was hearing 'unkind' voices in her head.

She was put on the waiting list for a mental health assessment only days before she murdered Brianna.

The review did not cover Ratcliffe, also 17, due to him living in neighbouring Wigan.

Today, at the second day of the hearing, it emerged that Birchwood was told that Jenkinson had consumed and supplied 'cannabis edibles' at school – but not that she had 'spiked' the pupil who had to go to A&E nor that police had become involved.

A statement agreed by lawyers for the two schools stated that Birchwood now 'acknowledge that if all available details had been provided they likely would still have offered Scarlett Jenkinson a managed transfer but may have put a different support package around her'.

But the document states that, 'irrespective' of the information disclosed by Culcheth, both schools now accept it was 'appropriate' for Jenkinson to be transferred.

It also claims that 'neither of the schools or their personnel could possibly have foreseen nor did they foresee that Scarlett Jenkinson posed any threat to Brianna or any other child'.

Birchwood headteacher Emma Mills – who is due to give evidence at the inquest – previously said her school was told the sweet-spiking was 'a one-off incident'.

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She said after the murder trial: 'We are a school that has absolutely zero tolerance in terms of drugs, so we knew that we had the systems in place to offer her a managed transfer.

'If anything came up where we thought that it would be a danger in any way, then you can simply refuse.

'In Scarlett's case there was nothing that raised a concern in terms of the information that we were given.'

At Birchwood, Jenkinson met Brianna in the 'inclusion unit,' a special class where vulnerable and troubled pupils are taught away from mainstream lessons.

Brianna was in the unit because of her struggles with anxiety and Jenkinson because of her transfer.

The father of another pupil at Culcheth High previously told the Mail his daughter was lucky to be alive after she refused to take the drug sweets from Jenkinson during the same episode.

He said: 'There was a massive incident at the high school and Scarlett Jenkinson got expelled.

'Listening to the murder trial has been absolutely horrific. When she tried to poison my daughter I thought I was over reacting thinking it was attempted murder - you never think a child of 15 would want to do that to another kid.

'She tried to give two (cannabis gummies) to my daughter, but she didn't take them (and) one of the other girls in the library did. She ended up in A&E.'

Another former pupil told the Mail Jenkinson would turn up to lessons high on 'substances and stuff' and 'smelling of weed.'

The boy, who was in the same year group, said Jenkinson's eyes would be red and you could tell she was 'on something'.