A UK judge lifted a ban on identifying two 16-year-olds who were found guilty of brutally stabbing a 16-year-old transgender girl, Brianna Ghey, in Warrington, northwest England in February last year, in a case that drew attention due to their young ages. The perpetrators, Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe, who were 15 at the time, inflicted 28 stab wounds on Ghey, whose body was discovered by dog walkers in a park. In a rare move, Judge Amanda Yip decided to lift the anonymity order at the end of their trial, allowing their names to be reported at Friday’s sentencing hearing. The jury convicted Jenkinson and Ratcliffe after nearly five hours of deliberations, following a four-week trial at Manchester Crown Court. The judge imposed life terms for their convictions and would decide the minimum amount of time they must serve before being considered for release after reviewing reports on both perpetrators before the sentencing.
During the trial, it was revealed that Jenkinson, referred to as girl X, had used an internet browser app to watch videos of real people being tortured and murdered in “red rooms” on the “dark web”. She had also shown an interest in serial killers and admitted to having “dark fantasies” about killing and torture. The pair had even created a “kill list” of four other youths they intended to harm, until Ghey became the focus of Jenkinson’s obsession. Ghey, who had thousands of followers on TikTok, was described as a withdrawn, shy and anxious teenager who struggled with depression and rarely left her home. Deputy chief crown prosecutor Ursula Doyle expressed her distress over the case, emphasizing the level of planning, violence, and the age of the perpetrators as being “beyond belief”.
