Two teenage killers are beginning life sentences for the “frenzied and ferocious” murder of 16-year-old Brianna Ghey in a park - as the family of one of them issued a heartfelt apology.
Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe stabbed the transgender schoolgirl 28 times with a hunting knife in a horrific attack on 11 February last year after luring her to Linear Park near Warrington.
The judge at Manchester Crown Court said the “exceptionally brutal” murder had elements of sadism by Jenkinson and transphobic hate by Ratcliffe.
The four-week trial heard the pair, who were 15, had a fascination with violence, torture and serial killers, with Jenkinson wanting to keep a part of Brianna’s flesh as a “token”.
Jenkinson was jailed for a minimum term of 22 years, and Ratcliffe 20.
Her parents have issued an apology to Brianna’s friends and family, saying they support the sentence for their daughter.
Saying their lives were in turmoil, they also thanked Brianna’s mother, Esther Ghey, for her “selflessness and empathy”.
Ms Ghey has said she wants the minimum terms her daughter’s “cowardly” killers must serve in custody to be “as long as possible” but had asked for compassion for Jenkinson’s family.
