UK teens get life sentences for ‘sadistic’ killing of trans girl Brianna Ghey

Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe stabbed the victim 28 times in what the judge called a ‘frenzied and ferocious’ attack

The court had earlier taken the rare step of lifting a ban on identifying the pair despite them being under 18 because of the gravity of the case

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Brianna Ghey, 16, was stabbed 28 times in the head, neck, back and chest. Her body was discovered by dog walkers in a park. Photo: AP

Published: 7:34pm, 2 Feb 2024Updated: 2:42am, 3 Feb 2024

Two British teenagers were ordered to be detained for life on Friday for the “sadistic” knife murder of a 16-year-old transgender girl that shocked the country.

Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe, both 16, killed Brianna Ghey in Warrington, northwest England, in February last year, in what the judge called a planned “frenzied and ferocious” assault.

Ghey was stabbed 28 times in the head, neck, back and chest after believing she was going to meet a friend. Her body was discovered by dog walkers in a park.

Jenkinson and Ratcliffe were just 15 at the time.

“You both took part in a brutal and planned murder which was sadistic in nature,” judge Amanda Yip told the pair as she handed down the sentence at Manchester Crown Court.

Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe. The 16-year-old killers of transgender teenager Brianna Ghey in northwest England last year have been named in court after the judge in the case lifted a ban on reporting their identities. Photo: AP

Yip said that Jenkinson’s “primary motivation” had been a desire to kill, but the pair had also been motivated in part by Ghey’s transgender identity.