'He stabs her in the back as I stab her in the stomach': Teen's chilling 'plan to kill' trans girl Brianna Ghey

28 November 2023, 15:03 | Updated: 28 November 2023, 15:05

A chilling note found at the home of a teenager accused of killing trans girl Brianna Ghey shows a detailed plan to murder her, jurors have been told.

Brianna, 16, was stabbed 28 times in the back and chest in Linear Park in Culcheth, Warrington in February this year.

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

The suspects, who were both 15 at the time of the killing, are accused of stabbing Brianna's throat and lungs.

Both defendants admit with Brianna at the time she was killed and boy Y said he had taken a hunting knife with him.

But both have denied injuring her and each is blaming the other.

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The court heard on Tuesday how a note was found at girl X's house, which prosecutors claim contained a plan for killing Brianna.

The note read: "Saturday 11th February 2023. Victim: Brianna Ghey.

"Meet boy Y at wooden posts 1pm. Walk down to library ... bus stop.

"Wait until Brianna gets off bus then the 3 of us walk to linear park. Go to the pipe/tunnel area.

"I say code word to boy Y. He stabs her in the back as I stab her in the stomach. Boy Y drags the body into the area. We both cover up the area with logs etc."

Deanna Heer KC, prosecuting, said: "It is clearly, the prosecution say, a plan to kill Brianna Ghey."

Police also found a note that said: "Give them alcohol with sleeping pills, slit throat, dismember body, place pieces in bin bags."

Other notes were written about serial killers including Jeffrey Dahmer, Richard Ramirez and Harold Shipman, the court heard.

Police also found trainers and a jacket with Brianna's bloodstains on them, and a knife with blood matching Brianna's DNA.

The court heard how girl X arranged to meet Brianna told boy Y she was "excited as f***"for February 11".

They also discussed which knife he would bring, the court heard.

Girl X and boy Y met shortly before 1pm the next day.

Brianna left her house and and boarded a bus to Culcheth on the day she was killed. She told her mother in a text: "I'm on the bus by myself, I'm scared."

Brianna, girl X and boy Y met just before 2pm and walked to the park, the court heard.

Ms Heer said Brianna and girl X while they were in the park.

A message from Brianna's phone was sent to girl X at 3.06pm, saying: "Girl where are you?"

Girl X deleted a chat from her Snapchat account seconds later, Ms Heer said. The prosecutor told jurors it was at about that time that Brianna must have been killed.

A 999 call was made at 3.13, reporting that someone had been stabbed and that attackers had been seen running away.

Brianna was pronounced dead at 4.02pm.

Ms Heer KC said: "The number of wounds and the pattern of injuries, taken as a whole, suggests that Brianna was subjected to a sustained and violent assault with a knife."

DNA from girl X and boy Y was found on soft drinks bottles left at the scene, prosecutors said.

The boy and the girl were still together as they walked away from the park, dashcam footage showed.

Brianna's mobile phone was found hidden in a drain as police searched the area, the court heard.

The boy and girl went their separate ways, but kept in contact via telephone, sending each other press reports of the attack while "feigning ignorance" about what happened.

Boy Y also searched online for ways to combat anxiety.

Girl X later asked boy Y: "Do you have anxiety about getting caught?"

Boy Y replied "probably", to which girl X responded: "You're not going to get caught don't worry. Police are shite here."

Girl X messaged Brianna saying: "Girl, is everything okay? Some teenage girl got killed in Linear Park it's on news everywhere.

"And why did you ditch us for some random man from Manchester. Like wtf. That is so f***** up."

Ms Heer told the jury that this was "an obvious attempt by girl X to set up a sort of false defence, were anybody to look at her phone in due course."

Girl X later messaged boy Y, repeating the story she had told police and telling him: "Make sure story adds up."

She then posted a tribute to Brianna on Snapchat, describing her as an "amazing friend" and that it was "so f****** sickening" what had happened.

Meanwhile, boy Y was online using the Crown Prosecution Service website, looking up penalties for supplying or withholding information.

Both defendants were arrested at their homes at about 7.30pm the day after the killing.

Girl X told police said she had gone to Linear Park with Brianna but that she left to go and meet a 17-year-old boy from Manchester.

Boy Y said that girl X had stabbed Brianna, that he went to check if she was alive, got blood on his hands and then "panicked", and went with girl X when she ran.

He said he was joking in a message he sent to girl X messages about torture and wanting to stab a boy.

The boy answered no comment when he was asked about the bloody knife found in his bedroom.

Jurors were told on Monday that one of the stab wounds reached a depth of 11cm and sliced through the teenager's heart.

"Many" of the stab wounds damaged Brianna's bones and would have required "considerable force", the court heard.

Ms Heer 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.