'Frenzied' attack on transgender teenager Brianna Ghey denied by boy

A boy has denied carrying out a “frantic” attack to police in which transgender teenager Brianna Ghey was stabbed 28 times with a hunting knife.

Brianna, 16, suffered insurmountable injuries to her head, neck, chest, back and sides during the “sustained and violent assault” after being lured to Linear Park, Culcheth, near Warrington.

Two youths, identified only as Boy Y and Girl X, who cannot be named due to their age, both deny murder and blame each other for the killing.

Jurors at Manchester Crown Court, on the eighth day of the trial, were shown the recorded police interview by boy Y and were warned before seeing a photo of Brianna's body, where she was found by dog ​​walkers on the afternoon of February 11.

During police questioning, accompanied by an appropriate adult and his lawyer, boy Y, who is autistic, is seen hugging a soccer ball, which helps him calm down, so as he is questioned by detectives.

He is accused of planning and conspiring with Girl X to kill Brianna several weeks before her death, after police found messages on both defendants' phones.

Boy Y replied: “Girl X is asking me about ways to kill. I just thought she was messing around. I was trying to accept what Girl X wants.”

He was also asked if discussing Brianna's murder was just a fantasy or a joke, as he claimed, then why did he discuss bringing a knife when they met Brianna and being d agreement with girl X, code words for knowing when to prepare the knife and when to do it. strike.

Boy Y replied, “She's been acting like that, talking about murder, for ages. She mentioned that she was a Satanist. So I assumed she wanted to talk to me about planning murders because she considered me an intelligent person.

The detective then asks, “This is really important Y. If you're not the person who stabbed this person, why would you need to bring a knife?”

Boy Y said he never brought a knife with him when Brianna was stabbed.

The jury heard that a hunting knife, with Brianna's blood on it and Boy Y's DNA on the handle, was found in her bedroom at her home.

Boy Y claims that he and Girl X met Brianna and went to the wooded park, but as he went to relieve himself behind a tree, he then saw Girl X stab Brianna three times.

Boy Y is told that Brianna was stabbed “all over her body” in what the pathologist described as a “frantic” attack.

He told police: “I never tried to kill anyone. This goes against everything I already know and believe, everything. This stops everything I want to do in the future. I've just never tried to do something like what happened.

The detectives then begin to question Boy Y about the hunting knife that the police had seized from his room.

His lawyer asks for a break and when the interview resumes, Boy Y responds “no comment” to all other questions, occasionally looking to his left at his lawyer and to the right at the appropriate adult sitting next to him and clutching the soccer ball in his lap.

Deanna Heer KC, prosecuting, then told the jury that it would be necessary to show an image of Brianna at the scene, but that in order to preserve her dignity and out of sensitivity to her, it would only show what was necessary. the jury sees.

Ms Heer added: “I will describe it before I show it, so you won't be shocked by what you see. »

The image showed Brianna, head closest to the camera, legs furthest away, lying on her side, facing the camera. His face is not visible because his head is covered by the hood of his white jacket which has a large red blood stain on the back.

The hearing was then briefly adjourned for a short break.

Earlier, the jury heard from X and Y, aged 15 at the time of Brianna's death, who were obsessed with torture, violence and death and had compiled a “hit list” of child victims.

An alleged “murder plan” to kill Brianna was discovered in the bedroom of X, who had an interest in serial killers, and she described herself as a “Satanist”, the jury heard.

The trial continues.