Brianna Ghey‘s mother Esther has opened up about her daughters tragic death in a new ITV documentary. The teenager was tragically killed two years ago when two 15-year-olds stabbed her to death in Culcheth Linear Park, Warrington.
Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe are currently serving life sentences for the murder of Brianna, which was motivated by transphobia and sadism in 2023. During the course of the heartbreaking one and a half hour documentary, interviews can be heard from the victim’s friends and family, including mother Esther as well as detectives. We take a look at the biggest bombshells from the heartbreaking programme…
Opening up on Brianna’s early life, Esther revealed that Brianna had ‘absolutely no fear’ when she was younger, and was a ball of joy and energy.
Her step-father Wes emotionally agreed: “She was like a little Tasmanian Devil, running around all over the place. You couldn’t pin her down. She was obsessed with gymnastics. She loved a big cuddle with her mum and her sister. When she entered her teen years, that’s when her outgoing, chatty personality dipped. She retreated inside herself. She seemed so distant.”
Esther was a young single mother for children Brianna Alisha, until stepfather Wes came into their lives when Alisha was 9 and Brianna was 8.
Wes later revealed that Brianna’s “outgoing, social, chatty personality” dipped during her teenage years, saying she became ‘distant’ as she went through horrific bullying.
During lockdown, Brianna turned to the online world to stay connected, as Esther revealed she thinks she had “multiple accounts” so she wasn’t exactly sure what her daughter was doing. Her friend Viv the revealed the pair were in many group chats together.
Revealing she struggled to monitor her daughter online, Esther revealed it was “a never ending stream of worry.”
“I was so concerned about who Brianna was chatting to online, I worried that I would come home from work to find Brianna and Alicia raped and murdered,” Esther added.
Brianna later moved onto TikTok, with one of her videos going viral – which came alongside hate comments from trolls.
During the documentary, Esther tearfully revealed that she had texted Brianna to say how proud of her she was just hours before her tragic death. In the film, Esther shares how she was thrilled when Brianna had said that she was taking the bus to meet a friend, with the teenager having become reclusive in the years during her gender transition.
“She sent me a picture of her feet on the bus and said that she felt really anxious,” Esther said. She then revealed that she responded to say how good it was. “I was hoping that Brianna would go out and have a nice time re-entering society. I responded to say how good it was. I don’t know whether she ever saw how proud I was of her,” Esther emotionally added.
Brianna had been brutally murdered by Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe, and it was clear it was a hate crime.
Brianna’s headteacher revealed they had received a call from the police enquiring about Scarlett. Police then revealed they formally declared Scarlett as a suspect by the lunchtime on the Sunday – however they had no idea who the male was.
A couple of witnesses saw Brianna get off the bus and one witness in particular identified that Eddie Ratcliffe was with Scarlett Jenkinson and the three of them all walked off in the direction of Culcheth village centre
The murder sparked 120 calls to Cheshire police as members of the public helped to identify them. Eddie was then declared a second subject as police Adam Weller declared it “the most atrocious knife murder” he’d experienced in his 26 years of policing.
Later on in the documentary, it was revealed that Scarlett and Eddie contradicted each other in their interviews and tried to blame the murder on one another.
During Scarlett’s first police interview, shown on the doc – she insisted she hadn’t even found out about what happened until it was on the news. Although she admitted to being with Brianna that day – Scarlett claimed Brianna had left her to meet a dealer.
Eddie then claimed he turned around to ‘use the toilet’ by a tree, and when he turned back around he witnessed Scarlett brutally stabbing Brianna.
Detectives then found evidence in both suspects houses – and messages were seen between the pair discussing Brianna’s murder.
During the doc, Brianna’s mum Esther revealed that the pair showed “no remorse” throughout the trial. The evidence was described as some of the most disturbing that police and reporters have ever heard in a justice setting.
Scarlett was later diagnosed with Antisocial personality disorder, while Eddie was diagnosed with autism.
“Scarlett and Eddie’s demeanour in court was completely emotionless,” said Wes. “They sat there playing with fidget toys and completing crossword puzzles, totally unaffected by the gruesome details.”
Brianna’s headteacher then revealed that Scarlett was smirking throughout, as Senior Investigating Officer DI Nigel Parr revealed that Eddie had “become mute.”
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