A plan to kill Brianna Ghey was found in one of the accused’s bedrooms, a trial hears.
Image source, Family handoutA plan to kill Brianna Ghey was found in the bedroom of one of the 16-year-olds accused of murder, a court heard.
The body of Brianna, 16, who was transgender, was discovered by dog walkers in a park in Culcheth, Cheshire, on 11 February.
Deanna Heer KC, prosecuting, told Manchester Crown Court on 3 February the girl sent the boy a picture of a handwritten note headed: “Saturday 11th February 2023. Victim: Brianna Ghey.”
The two teenagers both deny murder.
The trial has previously heard they had “a preoccupation with torture”.
The pair, who were 15 at the time, cannot be named because of their age and are identified only as girl X, from Warrington, and boy Y, from Leigh, Greater Manchester.
Warning: Some readers might find the following report distressing
The court heard the paper, found in girl X’s bedroom after her arrest, said: “Meet boy Y 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 boy Y. He stabs her in the back as I stab her in the stomach. Boy Y drags the body into the area. We both cover up the area with logs etc.”
Ms Heer said: “It is clearly, the prosecution say, a plan to kill Brianna Ghey.”
Image source, Family handout
On 10 February, girl X arranged to meet Brianna and later told boy Y she was “excited” for 11 February after they discussed which knife he would bring, the court heard.
The jury was told that on 11 February girl X and boy Y met shortly before 13:00 GMT.
Brianna left her house and boarded a bus to Culcheth, sending her mother a text message at 13.41 which said: “I’m on the bus by myself, I’m scared.”
The three met just before 14:00 and walked to the park, the court heard.
Ms Heer said there were some Snapchat messages between Brianna and girl X while they were in the park.
At 15.06 a message from Brianna’s phone was sent to girl X, saying: “Girl where are you?”
Ms Heer said girl X deleted a chat from her Snapchat account seconds later.
She told the jury it was at about that time that the killing must have occurred.
A 999 call was made by Kathryn Vize at 15.13, reporting that somebody had been attacked and she had seen the attackers run away.
The court heard Brianna was pronounced dead at 16.02 and a post-mortem examination found her cause of death was stab wounds.
Ms Heer said: “The number of wounds and the pattern of injuries, taken as a whole, suggests that Brianna was subjected to a sustained and violent assault with a knife.”
She told the court bottles of soft drinks were found at the scene with DNA from girl X and boy Y on, indicating they had been present.
She said they remained together as they walked away from the park and were spotted on dashcam footage walking together on Wigshaw Lane at 15.15.
Image source, PA Media
When the area was searched by police, Brianna’s mobile phone was found hidden in a drain, the jury was told.
The two defendants then separated and went home, Ms Heer said.
She said: “Thereafter, the telephone evidence shows these defendants remained in contact with each other.”
She said they kept each other informed of press reports about the incident in Linear Park while also “feigning ignorance” about what had happened.
Boy Y was also searching online for ways to combat anxiety, the court heard.
The court heard the two defendants exchanged messages shortly after 23:00 in which girl X asked boy Y: “Do you have anxiety about getting caught?”
When boy Y replied “probably”, girl X responded: “You’re not going to get caught don’t worry.”
Ms Heer said the following day girl X 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.”
Ms Heer said: “The prosecution say that was an obvious attempt by girl X to set up a sort of false defence, were anybody to look at her phone in due course.”
The trial continues.
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