Brianna Ghey: Coroner rules on death after three day inquest - statement in full

Brianna Ghey, 16, was lured to a park in Cheshire and murdered by Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe in 2023 - with both now serving life sentences in prison

Teenager Brianna Ghey, who was brutally stabbed to death by two 15-year-olds last year, was unlawfully killed, a coroner has ruled.

Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe lured the teenager into Linear Park in Culcheth and used a hunting knife to stab her 28 times in her head, neck, chest and back. The pair were jailed for life for the “sadistic” murder of the transgender teenager.

Brianna had been a pupil at Birchwood High School, Warrington, where she was befriended by Jenkinson who had transferred from Culcheth High School after she “spiked” a younger pupil with cannabis-laced sweets. Following her “managed transfer” from Culcheth, where Ratcliffe was a pupil, within weeks Jenkinson became obsessed by Brianna and began plotting her murder with Ratcliffe.

From age 14, Jenkinson had enjoyed watching videos of real killing and torture on the dark web, fantasised about murder and developed an interest in serial killers, her murder trial heard. But their “dark fantasies” were not known to either school or any other adults, their trial heard.

The three-day inquest at Warrington Coroner’s Court examined safeguarding for all three teenagers and how Brianna was brought into contact with Jenkinson. But the hearing was told despite Jenkinson’s misbehaviour in school, no one could have foreseen she was planning and would go on to murder Brianna.

Concluding the inquest, Jacqueline Devonish, senior coroner for Cheshire, said: “There was no reason for anyone to suspect the friendship was anything other than genuine. I found Birchwood High School offered Brianna a high standard of support within a caring environment.”

Ms Devonish said there were no visible signs that Brianna was at risk from Jenkinson. She added: “She had been planning Brianna’s murder since late 2022. Eddie Ratcliffe was the only person who knew, other than Scarlett Jenkinson. I found that the schools could not have reasonably foreseen that Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe would have plotted and murdered Brianna. It could not have, on the evidence available at the time, reasonably have been foreseen that Scarlett Jenkinson was mentally unstable so that she would kill.”

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