Evidence taken from the young pair, including on their phones, showed an “unhealthy fascination with murder and torture,” Cheshire police said in a statement on Wednesday.
The pair could not be named under British law because they are minors. However, on Thursday after a petition from British newspapers, which have been filled with details of the case, a judge ruled the anonymity orders could be lifted in the public interest and said the individuals could be identified next year when they are sentenced.
Prosecutors in court referred to them as “Girl X” and “Boy Y,” both 16, and said they had spent months plotting to kill someone, having made a “list of several potential victims that they knew,” as well as a detailed handwritten note of how they would target Ghey.
“This has been one of the most distressing cases I have ever dealt with. The planning, the violence and the age of the killers is beyond belief,” prosecutor Ursula Doylea said.
Cheshire police said the court heard how Girl X had “developed a friendship with Brianna prior to the attack — and had spent a significant amount of time trying to convince Brianna to meet up with her and the boy.”
Just before 2 p.m. local time on Feb. 11, they met Ghey at a bus stop and made their way together to Culcheth Linear Park in Warrington, northern England.
“Unbeknown to Brianna, this was all a part of their carefully constructed plan to kill her,” police said. “They led Brianna deep into the park before brutally murdering her.”
Police said the stabbing “frenzy” was cut short only by two dog walkers, who came across the scene and caused the duo to flee, but it was too late to save Ghey. Emergency services attempted CPR but she was pronounced dead, after multiple stabbings to her neck, chest and back, they added.
Her mother, Esther Ghey, told reporters outside the court that her daughter was “larger than life. She was funny, witty and fearless. … Our house feels empty without her laughter.”
She said she had initially felt sorry for the pair but that feeling disappeared, she said, when they failed to display “an ounce of remorse” in the courtroom. “To know how scared my usually fearless child must have been when she was alone in that park with someone that she called her friend will haunt me forever,” she added.
Ghey’s father, Peter Spooner, recounted to reporters how she had a great sense of humor and often shared TikTok videos with him.
“It’s difficult to comprehend how some people can do these vile things in the world and don’t understand how cruel and heartbreaking their actions can be,” he said. “My heart bleeds every day for Brianna and this will never go away.”
Prosecutors said the teenage pair had “shared hundreds of WhatsApp messages in the run-up to the murder, sharing fantasies about murder and torture,” with Girl X admitting “that she enjoyed watching videos about serial killers.”
One of the messages between them saw Girl X write to Boy Y ahead of the murder: “I want to stab her at least once even if she’s dead jus coz its fun lol,” the BBC reported.
Doyle, the prosecutor, said in a statement the two had “been a deadly influence on each other and turned their dark fantasies about murder into a reality.”
“The messages provided a terrifying insight into the minds of the two defendants — but also revealed the detailed planning of their attack and subsequent attempts to cover it up,” she said.
The court was told Girl X sent a message to Ghey after the murder, reading: “Girl, is everything okay? Some teenage girl got killed in Linear Park it’s on news everywhere.” She also posted a tribute to Ghey on Snapchat.
Girl X’s mother had phoned the police after learning of Ghey’s death in the news, prosecutors said.
Girl X had traits of autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, while Boy Y had been diagnosed with selective mutism and autism spectrum disorder, the BBC and the Associated Press reported.
Other deleted messages that police restored showed their “sadistic fantasies for months prior to the attack,” police said. They also showed how they had discussed targeting other individuals, as well as a previous attempt on Ghey’s life — involving administering an overdose of ibuprofen tablets and claiming in messages that no one would become suspicious as people “already know she is depressed.”
A hunting knife, believed to be the murder weapon, was recovered from the boy’s bedroom and found to contain traces of Ghey’s blood, police added.
Police ruled out transphobia as a motivating factor in the killing and the case was not prosecuted as a hate crime, due to the list of other victims that Girl X and Boy Y had considered targeting.
However, Cheshire Detective Inspector Nige Parr noted that Ghey’s death had in particular left Britain’s “LGBT community — overwhelmed with grief.”
“This was an extremely complex investigation with many challenges — including the ages of those involved,” he said in a statement. “Brianna did not deserve her fate. She was targeted because she was different, and betrayed by someone she thought was a friend.”
Stonewall, a British LGBT rights advocacy group, said Ghey’s death had been “a painful time for the trans community,” noting “many of whom recognise the dehumanising language used by the perpetrators.”
It added, “our thoughts are with Brianna and her loved ones, who supported her in living as her authentic self.”
Ghey’s head teacher Emma Mills said she had been a “huge character” in the classroom and had a “real sense of who she was,” and that her classmates were in mourning over her death.
Meanwhile the nearby city of Liverpool lit up it’s historic Liver building in pink overnight, it said, in a tribute to the murdered 16-year-old. LGBT radio stations fell silent for one minute, while countless public vigils took place across Britain marking Ghey’s death.
Police said that during initial interviews, both defendants had vehemently denied any involvement in Ghey’s death but once phone messages were shown to them, they subsequently “began to turn on each other.” Both pleaded not guilty to the murder.
However, a jury found them guilty on Wednesday and they will be sentenced in February.
“I hope this result brings about some closure for Brianna’s family,” Parr said.
