Brianna Ghey: Accused teenager tried to give girl overdose, jury told

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Brianna’s mum told the court about a time her daughter was sick, and screaming “in agony”
By Julia Bryson & PA Media
BBC News

A girl accused of murdering Brianna Ghey had tried to kill her with an overdose weeks before she died, a jury has been told.

Brianna, 16, who was transgender, was stabbed 28 times in a park in Culcheth, Cheshire, on 11 February.

Two teenagers, identified only as girl X, from Warrington, and boy Y, from Leigh, deny her murder.

The prosecution said the teenagers, who were 15 at the time, discussed an overdose in texts sent on 23 January.

Manchester Crown Court heard that X’s “fascination” with Brianna had “turned darker”.

Warning: Some readers might find the following report distressing

The jury was told X texted Y that “nobody would get [suspicious]” as people “already know she is depressed”.

“I gave her some today that should have been enough to kill her … but she didn’t die,” the message read.

The two then discussed an alternative of giving Brianna ibuprofen gel in a McDonald’s milkshake and Y said the pills X gave Brianna “might be slowly killing her”.

The jury later heard a statement from Brianna’s mother, Esther Ghey, who recalled a time in January when she found her daughter in her bedroom, in pain and “screaming and crying for me to help her”.

She said: “She’s never been like that before and never since.

“This was not long before she was killed.”

Brianna’s body was discovered in Culcheth Linear Park by dog walkers

Ms Ghey said she returned home from work at about 18:00 GMT, and shouted ‘hi’ up the stairs to Brianna – who screamed back, making her fear she had self-harmed.

She said she ran upstairs to find Brianna “rolling around in agony, screaming in pain saying, ‘I think I’m going to die’.

“She was clearly in distress. I wondered if it could be an appendicitis,” she said.

Ms Ghey said her daughter was then sick on her bedroom floor, but then recovered slowly throughout the evening.

She said Brianna suffered from anxiety and did not go out on her own, but she had texted her on the day she died saying she was scared but she was on a bus on her way to meet X.

Ms Ghey replied: “That’s well good”.

She added: “I was really proud of her. I don’t think she ever saw it.”

The court heard further text messages between the defendants, with X telling Y “I need help killing someone”, and naming the intended target as another child, identified only as R.

Brianna Ghey was anxious and rarely went out, her mother said

“He’s an easy kill … he deserves to die,” X added, before searching on the internet for facts about serial killers.

The jury heard Y said he would research Chinese torture, and had searched medieval torture techniques on his phone.

Y then said to X: “You distract him, I go from behind with the knife and stab him in the neck.”

The trial heard X had talked about killing another child, known as E, as well as two others but she said child E was the easiest target.

“I want him to suffer. I want him to feel the pain of the knife,” she said.

X said if they could not kill E, they could instead kill Brianna, the jury was told.

Only X was in court for the third day of the trial, as Y is listening in remotely via video link from his secure accommodation unit.

The trial continues.

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