Teens' plot to murder Brianna Ghey could not have been 'reasonably foreseen', inquest finds

ITV Granada Reports correspondent Rob Smith was at the inquest to hear its conclusion

The plotting and murder of teenager Brianna Ghey by two school pupils "could not reasonably have been foreseen" by their school, an inquest has concluded.

Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe stabbed the 16-year-old 28 times with a hunting knife after luring her to Culcheth Linear Park near Warrington on 11 February 2023.

Brianna had first met Jenkinson while at school but, after hearing evidence for three days, Coroner Jacqueline Devonish ruled there was "no way for anyone to suspect the friendship" between her and her killer was "anything other than genuine".

The inquest examined the placement of Jenkinson at Birchwood High School, where she befriended “vulnerable” Brianna, before going on to kill her with Ratcliffe, a friend from nearby Culcheth High.

Both killers were jailed for life, with trial judge Mrs Justice Yip ruling the “frenzied” and “brutal” murder had elements of sadism, with a secondary motive being the victim’s trans identity.

Ms Devonish said there were no visible signs that Brianna was at risk from Jenkinson.

She added: “She had been planning Brianna’s murder since late 2022. Eddie Ratcliffe was the only person who knew, other than Scarlett Jenkinson.

“I found that the schools could not have reasonably foreseen that Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe would have plotted and murdered Brianna.

“It could not have, on the evidence available at the time, reasonably have been foreseen that Scarlett Jenkinson was mentally unstable so that she would kill.”

The Coroner looked at Jenkinson's transfer between schools to determine whether any "serious concerns" were missed.

The court previously heard she had been excluded from Culcheth High after she had been involved in “spiking” a younger pupil with drugs at the school.

While the school never made the reason behind the expulsion explicitly clear to Birchwood, the court was told, even if all available details had been passed on, it was still likely Birchwood would have taken the teenager on as a pupil.

It also heard Jenkinson had been involved in a second cannabis related incident at her new school and the transfer was about to fail, leaving her permanently excluded.

Days later she carried out the murder with Ratcliffe.

Within weeks of her “managed transfer” Jenkinson became obsessed by Brianna and began plotting her murder with Ratcliffe.

Emma Mills, head teacher at Birchwood High School said there was nothing to suggest Brianna being in the same school as Jenkinson put her in danger or that Jenkinson was a risk to other students.

The Tuesday before Brianna was murdered on the Saturday, Ms Mills said Jenkinson had been missing from school and was found in the toilets at an Asda store across the road.

“She was really upset and was hearing voices saying unkind things,” Ms Mills told the hearing.

Ratcliffe's mother told the inquest he was a "good child" with his sights set on earning a place and Cambridge or Oxford.

Alice Hemmings said in a statement: “Eddie is a good child, with good morals and a loving, caring family behind him.

“Eddie clearly knows right and wrong, good and bad and is not a risk taker.”

She told the court how she drove her son to Culcheth to meet with Jenkinson and Brianna on the afternoon of the murder.

“During (the) journey he was constantly checking his phone,” Ms Hemming said. “He seemed to be tense and moody, not like him at all.

“I don’t know why but I felt uneasy on this day.”

The Coroners Court previously heard about Brianna's home life, as well as the mental health and actions of her two killers in the months leading up to the murder.

On the last day of the inquest, the coroner heard how Brianna was considered to be at risk of sexual exploitation due to her social media presence, which had garnered her thousands of followers on TikTok.

Before her murder concerns had been raised about her interactions online but she had refused to let her mother have access to her phone and her school could not take the device off her either, the hearing was told.

In December of 2022 a panel meeting of school and other professionals deemed her to be at “medium risk” of child sexual exploitation.

However, the coroner has ruled that neither Brianna's mental health or her social media presence did not contribute to her death. She also concluded that Brianna received a "high standard of support" from her school.

Brianna was described by her mother, Esther Ghey, as a "hyperactive" but "loving" child, who's mental health "deteriorated massively" during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown.

She said she had been thankful when she began making friends at school, including with Jenkinson, who had joined the school after being asked to leave Culcheth High School.

But, she added, Brianna became "immersed in darkness" and, when police knocked on her door after finding her body, “she just knew something like this was going to happen”.

While at an eating disorder clinic, staff noticed Brianna had been self-harming, with marks on her arms and legs.

“She would cut her arms and legs – at one point she carved a row of love heart shapes on her arm,” Ms Ghey’s statement said.

The inquest also heard about the background of Brianna Ghey's killers, as well as their behaviour in the months leading up to the murder.

Jenkinson, at the age of 14, had downloaded a Tor internet browser app, to watch videos of the torture and murder of real people, in “red rooms” on the “dark web”.

She developed an interest in serial killers, making notes on their methods and admitted enjoying “dark fantasies” about killing and torture.

How could two seemingly ‘innocent’ teenagers became killers, concocting a kill list, luring Brianna into a park and stabbing her, in a "frenzied and ferocious" attack, 28 times?