Murder of Brianna Ghey

Brianna Ghey was a 16-year-old transgender girl and a Year 11 pupil at Birchwood Community High School in the Birchwood area of Warrington, in the United Kingdom. She had been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, and anxiety, and received one-on-one tutoring in her school's inclusion room, where she met a fellow pupil, Scarlett Jenkinson. According to her friends, Ghey had faced years of transphobic harassment and bullying, including at school; in a statement reportedly approved by her mother, the school's headteacher denied that Ghey had faced bullying there. Ghey also had a large following on TikTok, where she posted dance videos.

Jenkinson had previously attended Culcheth High School with Eddie Ratcliffe, whom she had known since age 11. She transferred to Birchwood after facing permanent exclusion from Culcheth over an incident involving cannabidiol-infused edibles. At Birchwood, Jenkinson and Ghey became friends, and Jenkinson later told a psychiatrist that she had wanted to "kill her so she would always be with her." Jenkinson also researched notorious serial killers and viewed violent material online before the killing. Four months before the murder, Jenkinson first attempted to kill Ghey by poisoning her with an excessive dose of ibuprofen; Ghey survived. Ratcliffe, whom neighbours said had shown no prior signs of violence, collected knives and bought the hunting knife later used in the killing while on a skiing trip to Bulgaria.

On 11 February 2023, Jenkinson messaged Ghey and arranged to meet that afternoon under the pretext of obtaining drugs. Ghey travelled by bus to Culcheth, where she met Jenkinson and Ratcliffe, whom she had not met before, near Culcheth Library. The three were last seen on CCTV walking into Culcheth Linear Park shortly after 2:00 pm, and multiple eyewitnesses saw them together in the park. Ghey was then fatally stabbed 28 times about the head, neck, chest, and back. Jenkinson and Ratcliffe fled after being noticed by a passerby, then returned, discovered Ghey's body, and called emergency services at 3:13 pm; she was pronounced dead at the scene at 4:02 pm.

Cheshire Constabulary arrested Jenkinson and Ratcliffe, both then 15 years old, at their homes the following day. They were charged with murder on 15 February 2023 and remanded in youth detention. Because of their ages, reporting restrictions initially barred identifying either defendant, and the trial opened at Manchester Crown Court on 27 November 2023 with the pair referred to as Girl X and Boy Y. The prosecution presented text-message evidence of Jenkinson's obsession with Ghey and of an earlier attempt to poison her. Each defendant's defence blamed the other for the stabbing and cast themselves as an accessory to the killing.

On 20 December 2023, a jury convicted both Jenkinson and Ratcliffe of murder, and the anonymity order shielding their identities was subsequently lifted. On 2 February 2024, both were sentenced at Manchester Crown Court to be detained at His Majesty's pleasure, with a minimum term of 22 years for Jenkinson and 20 years for Ratcliffe before either is eligible for parole. The court concluded that the killing was primarily motivated by sadistic tendencies, with transphobia a secondary motive in Ratcliffe's case. Ratcliffe later applied for permission to appeal his sentence; permission was refused at a hearing in December 2024.

Ghey's death prompted candlelight vigils across the United Kingdom and in Dublin, and an online fundraiser for her family raised more than £100,000. An inquest opened in March 2023 was adjourned pending the criminal proceedings and later examined the circumstances leading up to the killing, including Ghey's school environment.