Yahoo News 'I’m scared': Heartbreaking final text Brianna Ghey sent her mum shortly before 'murder'
The 16-year-old transgender teenager was found stabbed to death at Culcheth Linear Park, near Warrington, Cheshire, on 11 February this year.
Brianna Ghey texted her mother to say "I'm scared" just an hour and a half before she was murdered, a court has heard.
The 16-year-old transgender teenager was found stabbed to death at Culcheth Linear Park, near Warrington, Cheshire, on 11 February this year.
Two teens, who were 15 at the time, are charged with murdering Brianna.
The defendants, now both 16, cannot be named for legal reasons and are referred to as girl X and boy Y.
On the second day of the trial on Tuesday, Manchester Crown Court heard that Brianna had left her house and boarded a bus to Culcheth, sending her mother a text message at 1.41pm that read: “I’m on the bus by myself, I’m scared.”
Prosecutors said she was murdered about an hour and a half later.
The court heard that a plan to kill Brianna was found in the bedroom of one of the 16-year-olds accused of her murder.
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Deanna Heer KC, prosecuting, told the jury that eight days before Brianna was killed that girl X sent boy Y a picture of a handwritten note headed: “Saturday 11th February 2023. Victim: Brianna Ghey.”
The note, 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.”
On 10 February, girl X arranged to meet Brianna and later told boy Y she was “excited as f***” for the next day after they discussed which knife he would bring, the court heard.
Girl X and boy Y met shortly before 1pm the next day, the court was told.
After Brianna got off the bus, she met the pair just before 2pm and walked to the park.
Ms Heer said there were some Snapchat messages between Brianna and girl X while they were in the park.
At 3.06pm, 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. Ms Heer said it was at about that time that the killing must have occurred.
A 999 call was made at 3.13pm by Kathryn Vize, who said somebody had been attacked and she had seen the attackers run away.
Brianna was pronounced dead at 4.02pm and a post-mortem examination found her cause of death was multiple stab wounds.
“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," said Ms Heer.
She told the court that bottles of soft drinks were found at the scene with traces of DNA from girl X and boy Y, indicating they had been present.
The next day, girl X messaged Brianna, saying: “Girl, is everything okay? Some teenage girl got killed in Linear Park it’s on news everywhere.
“And why did you ditch us for some random man from Manchester. Like wtf. That is so f***** up.”
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.”
Girl X then lied to her mother and, as a result, her mother called police at about 5pm the day after the murder, the court heard.
Both defendants were arrested at their homes at about 7.30pm on 12 February.
Police searched girl X’s bedroom and found a number of handwritten notes, including the plan to kill Brianna, the court heard.
There were also notes about serial killers, including Jeffrey Dahmer, Richard Ramirez and Harold Shipman, the court heard.
In boy Y’s bedroom, police found trainers and a jacket with Brianna’s bloodstains on them, the court was told.
A knife with blood matching Brianna’s DNA was also found during the search, Ms Heer said.
The trial continues.
