Brianna Ghey's baby-faced killers Scarlett Jenkinson & Eddie Ratcliffe UNMASKED - as evil pair jailed for 42 years

BRIANNA Ghey’s baby-faced killers have been unmasked as the twisted teens were today caged for a total of 42 years over the brutal murder.

Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe were both just 15 when they hatched a macabre plot to slaughter the 16-year-old.

Scarlett Jenkinson was named today as one of Brianna Ghey’s killers

Her co-killer Eddie Ratcliffe was branded a danger to society

Brianna was lured to a park and stabbed to deathCredit: PA

Jenkinson said she ‘did enjoy the feeling of stabbing’ Brianna

She branded Ratcliffe a ‘Tesco John Wick’

The pair were jailed for a total of at least 42 years todayCredit: PA

After luring Brianna, who was transgender, to Linear Park in Warrington, they used a hunting knife to stab her in a “ferocious” attack.

Jenkinson and Ratcliffe have now been named by a judge as the pair were jailed for life today for murder.

Previous reporting restrictions meant the killers could only be referred to during their trial as girl X and boy Y.

Jenkinson remained emotionless as she received a minimum of 22 years, while Ratcliffe stared straight ahead he was told he must spend at least 20 years in prison.

Sentencing, Mrs Justice Yip said the murder was “brutal” and “sadistic” and that a secondary motive was Brianna’s trans identity.

The judge added: “Brianna was only 16-years-old. She had her whole life ahead of her.

“This case is unusual and it has shocked the public.”

Manchester Crown Court was told Jenkinson, who had a “deep desire to kill”, for the first time admitted stabbing Brianna herself.

The sadistic killer, who drew up another “kill list” while in secure accommodation, told her lawyers she “snatched” the knife from her co-killer and slashed at her “repeatedly”.

Deanna Heer KC, prosecuting, said: “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.”

It comes as:

It can now be revealed Jenkinson, whose parents were both teachers, had been expelled from Culceth High School over a drug incident.

Ratcliffe meanwhile is the son of a truck company manager dad and ski instructor mum.

He previously competed in the Amateur Associations’ World Kick Boxing Championships in Jamaica in 2018.

The intelligent killer passed eight GCSEs while on remand and has since been studying for A levels in physics, biology, chemistry, maths and English literature.

In an emotional victim impact statement, Brianna’s mum Esther Ghey said she believes the pair are still a danger to society.

The mum added: “I don’t believe that someone who is so disturbed and obsessed with murder and torture would ever be able to be rehabilitated.

“I have moments where I feel sorry for them, because they have also ruined their own lives, but I have to remember that they felt no empathy for Brianna when they left her bleeding to death after their premeditated and vicious attack, which was carried out not because Brianna had done anything wrong, but just because one hated trans people and the other thought it would be fun.”

While Brianna’s dad described her killers as “a pair of monsters” who “should be forgotten”.

Peter Spooner said the the “brutality” of her murder left him feeling a sense of “complete and utter horror”.

‘Preoccupied with violence’

Jenkinson struck up a friendship with Ratcliffe, who had a crush on one of her friends, and the pair began messaging each other.

But their innocent chats soon turned deadly as they became “preoccupied with violence, torture and death”.

Manchester Crown Court was told the pair “encouraged one another to think about how they would actually carry out a killing”.

This culminated in a “kill list” of five people they wanted to murder before eventually settling on tragic Brianna.

Jenkinson had grown “obsessed” with the teen and concocted a plot to kill her using medication.

Chillingly, the teen had only been moved to Brianna’s school and befriended her after she poisoned another young girl.

Jenkinson had given the unnamed victim a cannabis-infused sweet – causing her to fall ill.

Just 19 days before Brianna was slaughtered, Jenkinson messaged her accomplice to let him know the grim plan with Brianna had been put into action.

She said she believed she had given Brianna [painkillers] that “should have been enough to kill her”.

When the schoolgirl fell ill but did not die, the evil pair decided to choose a more gruesome method to murder Brianna.

In a note headed “Saturday 11th February 2023. Victim: Brianna Ghey” – the day she was killed – Jenkinson outlined her plans.

The teen wrote: “Meet [Ratcliffe] 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 [Ratcliffe]. He stabs her in the back as I stab her in the stomach. [Ratcliffe] drags the body into the area. We both cover up the area with logs etc”.

Chilling messages revealed bloodlust

They originally planned to meet Brianna on January 28 but Ratcliffe said he would not be able to carry out the killing on a “school night”.

Fuelled by her bloodlust, Jenkinson replied: “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.”

The boy responded: “Really? All I wanted to see is what size d**k it had.”

In another message, Jenkinson said: “I really want one of its eyes. They have pretty eyes.”

She also wrote: “I want to stab her at least once even if she’s dead jus coz its fun lol.”

Jenkinson wept as she was arrested

The pair quickly blamed each other after they were arrested

Jenkinson crafted a false narrative in her police interviewCredit: PA

She and Eddie both turned on each otherCredit: PA

Jenkinson drafted a list of ‘good and evil’ qualitiesCredit: PA

She also wrote lists of serial killersCredit: PA

After deciding on a date, Jenkinson settled in to watch her “favourite” film, Sweeney Todd, for the “9,000th time”.

The following morning, unwitting Brianna left her home to meet her killers in the park.

The schoolgirl was captured on CCTV boarding a bus from nearby Birchwood Station to Culcheth Library.

While on the bus, Brianna messaged her mum Esther Ghey to tell her she was on her way to meet Jenkinson and was “scared”.

Esther said that her daughter would often stay in at weekends due to her anxiety.

In response to her venturing out, she had replied: “That’s well good”.

Brianna met her killers at the bus stop before the trio were seen entering an alleyway to the park 2.02pm.

Just over an hour later, Brianna was found covered in blood and lying face down in mud by a dog walker.

I’ve never felt such grief. no parent should have to bury their child

Esther Ghey, Brianna’s mum

Brianna suffered “unsurvivable” injuries, including catastrophic blood loss after she was knifed in the back and chest.

Jenkinson and Ratcliffe had penetrated Brianna’s throat and lungs with the blade.

One stab wound reached a depth of 11cm and sliced through the teen’s heart.

Brianna also had “defensive” wounds to her arms and hands where she desperately attempted to fight her attackers off.

The court was told “many” of the stab wounds damaged her bones and would have required “considerable force”.

Brianna’s mum’s tribute in full

“My name is Esther Ghey. I am providing this victim impact statement in relation to my daughter, Brianna Ghey.

Brianna was an extremely vulnerable teenager. As Brianna’s mother I was constantly worried that she was putting herself in risky situations. She was diagnosed with ADHD and ASD as a teenager; with these conditions she found it extremely difficult to identify dangerous situations. Although, in this case, no one could have predicted that it was a dangerous situation for Brianna.

This was the hardest thing for me and the rest of Brianna’s family to come to terms with. Finding out that one of the people who had been charged for her murder was someone we believed to be her friend. Someone that we trusted. Someone that I was so happy that she had, fearing that my child had been lonely. Not knowing that this person had been planning, to not only cause harm, but to take the life of my precious child. I tried to protect Brianna so much when she was putting herself in harm’s way, and I failed by allowing her to meet Scarlett on that Saturday afternoon.

I was pleased to receive the text from Brianna on the afternoon of the 11th Feb, telling me that she was going out to meet her friend, In order to meet her, Brianna had managed to get on a bus by herself, something that was a first and a big deal for her. I had been concerned that Brianna wouldn’t be able to get herself to college due to her anxiety and this was a big breakthrough for her. I thought that she would have a wonderful time, hanging around with her friend and getting some fresh air. When all that time she was being lured to her death. All I can think about is that she would have been scared and I wasn’t there for her. She needed me to protect her, Brianna wasn’t a fighter and she must have been so terrified.

The day of and the days following 11th of February were and always will be the worst days of my life. I felt like someone had killed part of me, like my heart had been ripped out. I have never felt such grief and I would never wish that pain on anyone else. At night, I shared my bed with Alisha as neither of us could sleep alone. I couldn’t eat and was in a complete daze, just living one day after the next. Our home was so quiet with Brianna gone.

Whenever I went into my bedroom, I’d put my ear against the wall that divided mine and Brianna’s rooms, to try and hear her chatting and giggling on facetime to her friends, but there was only silence. When I walked through the front door, I expected her to come down the stairs to ask for a Dominoes pizza for tea but there was only silence. I would go into her bedroom to ask her where she had gone and if she was ok. It broke my heart to know that I would never get a response and I would never hear her voice again. I desperately wanted to know that she was ok and that she wasn’t alone and in pain anymore.

The fact that Brianna was taken from me in such a heinous way causes a pain that I struggle to describe. No parent should ever have to bury their child. She should have been around for the rest of my life. Brianna had plans for her future which we will never have the chance to support her with. She wanted to go to college and study beauty therapy; she was looking forward to being old enough to have a little job like her big sister. We had also discussed her learning to drive, and she had even picked out which pink car she would like for her 18th birthday.

When I remember the good memories that we made together it hurts so much because she’s not here anymore to remember them with me, and we will never get the chance to make more memories together. Instead, the final memories that I carry, are the memories of hearing the news that my child had been found dead; memories of identifying Brianna’s lifeless body; memories of her funeral; and now to add to that, memories of the trial where the two people responsible for Brianna’s death have cowardly pointed the finger towards each other, showing no remorse and only interested in defending themselves.

Our lives have completely changed because of this crime. I tried to go back to work weeks after Brianna’s death but going back to my normal way of life just highlighted that she wasn’t with us. I would drive home knowing that she wouldn’t be there when I arrived. As a result, I haven’t worked since March. Brianna’s sister, Alisha, chooses to stay at her boyfriend’s house for most of the time because she feels such grief at home, it is so quiet without Brianna, and this is unbearable for her. Brianna was killed when Alisha was in college, studying for her second year of A levels. Alisha has always been a promising student who enjoyed learning and achieving, but she has struggled and decided to quit college for now. She has lost confidence in her abilities due to the time that she had off to deal with her grief, and I worry that the trauma that Alisha has experienced could negativity impact the rest of her life.

I believe that both Scarlett and Eddie continue to be a danger to society. Their behaviour has impacted my family terribly and I would never want them to have the opportunity to carry out their sadistic fantasies on another vulnerable person. As I’ve mentioned, I have another daughter and one day I will hopefully have grandchildren. I want to help to make society a safer place for them to grow up, and the thought of Scarlett and Eddie being released from prison absolutely horrifies me. I don’t believe that someone who is so disturbed and obsessed with murder and torture would ever be able to be rehabilitated. I have moments where I feel sorry for them, because they have also ruined their own lives, but I have to remember that they felt no empathy for Brianna when they left her bleeding to death after their premeditated and vicious attack, which was carried out not because Brianna had done anything wrong, but just because one hated trans people and the other thought it would be fun.”

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

Following the murder, Jenkinson hatched a ” false defence” to cover their tracks in case anyone looked at her phone.

She messaged Brianna saying: “Girl, is everything okay? Some teenage girl got killed in Linear Park its on news everywhere.

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

This mystery 17-year-old boy was simply a fictitious invention of Jenkinson and Ratcliffe’s, with the teen girl telling him: “Make sure story adds up”.

She also shared a Snapchat tribute to Brianna, saying: “Brianna was one of the best people I have ever met, such an amazing friend.

“It is f***ing sickening what got done to her.”

But her plan unravelled when police found an unopened bottle of Dr Pepper and empty bottle of Coke near the scene that matched the pair’s DNA.

Brianna’s blood was also discovered on a £13.50 hunting knife the boy had bought on a skiing holiday six weeks before the murder.

When officers raided Jenkinson’s home, they found another note with a “plan to kill”.

This one said: “Slit throat, dismember body, place pieces in bin bags, bury bags 7 feet underground”.

The killer had started fantasising about death and murder since she was 14 – downloading a browser allowing her to search the dark web for ‘red rooms’, which show real-life torture and killing videos.

Although she was described as “a normal kid from a normal family”, Jenkinson wrote secret notes on her macabre obsession with death and murder.

Timeline of terror – how Brianna’s killing unfolded

2022

November

– The two teenagers discussed killing a child referred to in court as boy M.

December 5

– Jenkinson sends Ratcliffe a video which was apparently an advert for an underground site for people who like rape, snuff, torture and murder.

December 15

– She messages Ratcliffe, telling him she is “obsessed over someone” called Brianna but did not have feelings for them.

2023

January 1

– Ratcliffe sends Jenkinson a photograph of a hunting knife and tells her: “Spent my money. I bought a knife.”

January 23

– Jenkinson messages Ratcliffe, telling him she gave Brianna so many tablets it “should have been enough to kill her”.

January 26

– The two teenagers compile a list of at least four people, as well as Brianna, they wanted to kill.

February 3

– Jenkinson sends Ratcliffe a picture of a handwritten note of their plan of how to kill Brianna, titled “Saturday 11th February 2023. Victim: Brianna Ghey”.

February 11

1.41pm – Brianna sends her mother a message saying: “I’m on the bus by myself, I’m scared.”

1.53pm – Brianna meets Jenkinson and Ratcliffe at a bus stop in Culcheth.

2.30pm – Brianna messages a friend, describing Jenkinson as “weird”.

3.06pm – Brianna sends a message to Jenkinson saying “Girl where are you”.

3.13pm – Brianna is found lifeless by dog walkers Kathryn and Andrew Vize.

4.02pm – Brianna is declared dead at the scene.

February 12

– Jenkinson and Ratcliffe are arrested at their homes.

February 15

Police find Brianna’s phone in a drain, stained with her blood in an area Jenkinson and Ratcliffe were seen walking shortly after the murder.

Police also discovered notes about serial killers, including Jeffrey Dahmer, Richard Ramirez and Harold Shipman.

It was suggested during the trial Jenkinson had used Ratcliffe as her “hitman” – referring to the boy as a “Tesco John Wick”.

As her “thirst for killing” grew over time, both killers led each other on a path that became more extreme in a “cocoon world they alone inhabited”.

Both teens sought to blame each other for the killing and each claimed their backs were turned when the fatal blows were delivered.

But Ms Heer said the evidence showed they were “in it together”.

Tragically, no motive for the murder has been given – with the lead investigator saying both had a “thirst for killing”.

Detective Chief Superintendent Mike Evans, head of crime at Cheshire Police, also previously revealed fears they could have struck again if they were not caught.

Senior Crown prosecutor Nicola Wyn Williams said: “At just 16, Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe are convicted killers, responsible for the brutal murder of a vulnerable young girl who thought they were her friends.

“They have been given a life term of imprisonment and have shown no remorse.

“The planning, violence and the age of the killers is beyond belief. The two appear to have had a deadly influence on each other and turned what may have started out as dark fantasies about murder into a reality.

“The messages between the two provided a terrifying insight into the warped desires and fantasies of the two defendants. However, they also provided us with the motivation behind the attack, the plans and then the attempts to cover it up.

“Today’s sentence reflects the brutality of the two killers’ heartless crime – and while it cannot erase the pain of Brianna’s loss, we hope it brings some closure.

“The Crown Prosecution Service would again like to thank Brianna’s family for the courage and dignity they have shown throughout the proceedings, and our thoughts and sympathies remain with them at this difficult time.”