Girl accused of killing Brianna Ghey ‘watched Sweeney Todd night before murder’

The teenage girl accused of killing Brianna Ghey watched her “favourite film”, Sweeney Todd, for the “9,000th time” and discussed which knife her co-defendant would use, the night before the murder, a court has heard.

Two 16-year-olds, who can only be identified as girl X and boy Y, are charged with the murder of transgender girl Brianna, 16, who was found stabbed in Culcheth Linear Park, near Warrington, on February 11.

On Wednesday, a trial at Manchester Crown Court heard messages exchanged between girl X and boy Y in the run up to the stabbing, in which they discussed killing Brianna.

In messages sent on the evening of February 10, girl X asked boy Y which knife he would bring when they met Brianna.

He said: “The hunting knife I showed you in person as well as on the phone.”

The girl asked if it would “definitely 100% kill her” and boy Y replied: “Yes.”

She told him: “I’ve just put my favourite film on. I’m watching it for like the 9,000th time.”

In the messages read to the court, girl X said the film was Sweeney Todd and told boy Y he should watch it.

She added: “He kills people with one of the sharpest blades in the world.”

The court heard they planned to meet Brianna on January 28 but “last minute” she was unable to come.

Afterwards, girl X told boy Y in a message that Brianna would be able to meet them on Tuesday, after school.

He replied: “I’ve got revision and I’m not bringing a knife.”

Later that day, girl X messaged boy Y saying: “Let’s kill Brianna tomorrow 6pm.”

The court heard that boy Y told her he was unable to carry out the killing on a “school night”.

Girl X said in a message: “I don’t want to wait, I just want her to die. I want to see pure horror on her face and hear her scream in pain.”

In another message, girl X said: “ I really want one of its eyes. They have pretty eyes.”

In earlier messages, on January 23, girl X told boy Y she knew a lot about US serial killer Richard Ramirez, known as The Night Stalker, adding “I could talk about him for like two hours, including quotes and dates of stuff”.

In a statement which was read to the court, Brianna’s mother, Esther Ghey, said generally, her daughter would stay in at weekends as she suffered from anxiety and did not go out on her own.

She added: “I know she would sometimes spend time with girl X after school. Brianna was always home from school before I get home from work, so I don’t know how often they spent time together.”

On the day Brianna died, Ms Ghey said she received a text message from her daughter to say she was on the bus on the way to meet girl X, saying: “I’m scared.”

Ms Ghey texted back “That’s well good”. She added: “I was really proud of her. I don’t think she ever saw it.”

On Wednesday, boy Y was watching proceedings remotely over a videolink, while girl X was in court.

Both defendants deny murder.

The trial was adjourned until Thursday morning.