There was “no reason to suspect” Brianna Ghey’s friendship with one of her murderers was “anything but genuine”, a coroner has ruled.
Brianna, 16, was stabbed 28 times in the head, neck, chest and back with a hunting knife after being lured to Linear Park in Warrington on 11 February last year.
Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe, both aged 15 at the time of the murder, were jailed for life and ordered to serve 22 years and 20 years respectively in February.
Concluding the inquest into Brianna’s murder, Jacqueline Devonish, senior coroner for Cheshire, said the teenager was unlawfully killed and their schools or local authority could not have foreseen her murder.
Brianna had been a pupil at Birchwood High School, Warrington, where she was befriended by Jenkinson who had transferred from Culcheth High School, where Ratcliffe was a pupil, after she “spiked” a younger pupil with cannabis-laced sweets.
Within weeks of her “managed transfer” from Culcheth, Jenkinson became obsessed by Brianna and began plotting her murder with Ratcliffe.
However, Ms Devonish said today: “There was no reason for anyone to suspect the friendship [between Brianna and Jenkinson] was anything other than genuine.
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“I found Birchwood High School offered Brianna a high standard of support within a caring environment.”
Ms Devonish said there were no visible signs that Brianna was at risk from Jenkinson.
From age 14, Jenkinson had enjoyed watching videos of real killing and torture on the dark web, fantasised about murder and developed an interest in serial killers, her murder trial heard.
But the “dark fantasies” she shared with Ratcliffe were not known to either school or any other adults, their trial heard.
At Ratcliffe and Jenkinson’s sentencing, the judge told the pair: “Both of you played a full part in killing Brianna and both intended she should die.”
Mrs Justice Yip also said she had taken into account the “sadistic motive [of Jenkinson] and transphobic hostility [of Ratcliffe]”.
Brianna was described as an anxious and vulnerable teenager, with her mother Esther Ghey believing this was partly because she spent a lot of time on her phone.
On the opening day of the inquest at Cheshire Coroners Court on Wednesday, two statements from Ratcliffe’s mother Alice Hemmings were read out where she described her son as a “good child with good morals and a loving and caring family behind him”.
Ms Hemmings also said: “Eddie clearly knows right and wrong, good and bad, and isn’t a risk taker.”
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