As the "sadistic" killers of Brianna Ghey were sentenced to a minimum of 42 years behind bars, family members of the "funny, cheeky" 16-year-old remembered the girl she was, and mourned the woman she never got the chance to be.
Brianna, a Year 11 Birchwood High School pupil, was stabbed to death by Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe in Culcheth Linear Park in February last year. The "brutal, sadistic" pair had plotted to murder her after luring her to the park, with Jenkinson confessing to Ratcliffe that she "wanted (Brianna) to die really badly and that (she) wanted to see the pure horror on her face and hear her scream in pain".
Jenkinson was jailed for life and must serve a minimum of 22 years in prison before she can be considered for parole, while Ratcliffe – who made transphobic comments about Brianna and referred to her as "it" – was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 20 years. In court, Brianna's dad Peter Spooner paid tribute to his "lovely young girl", while heart-breaking statements were read on behalf of her mum and sister.
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Peter said: “As Brianna’s father, it is impossible to put into words how the murder of my child has affected me. I have been deprived of so many memories and time with her.
“Being a father of a transgender child was a difficult thing to deal with. Without people accusing me of dead naming my child, most of my memories are with my son. Our memories are engraved on my heart. He was funny, cheeky and would pull faces to make me laugh. He was my baby, my only son and his decision to transition was such a brave and confident thing to do.
“Even though I grieved the son I lost, I was proud to gain another beautiful daughter. Her appearance changed as she blossomed into a lovely young girl, her eyes were the same, she had my eyes when I looked at her. We were forming a new relationship and these two murderers have stolen that from us both.
“I hate how Brianna’s life has been brutally taken away from her and she has been deprived of the life she wanted to live. She never had the chance to sit her exams or go onto further education."
Brianna's mum Esther said: “The day of and the days following 11th of February were and always will be the worst days of my life. I felt like someone had killed part of me, like my heart had been ripped out. I have never felt such grief and I would never wish that pain on anyone else. At night, I shared my bed with Alisha as neither of us could sleep alone. I couldn’t eat and was in a complete daze, just living one day after the next. Our home was so quiet with Brianna gone.
“Whenever I went into my bedroom, I’d put my ear against the wall that divided mine and Brianna’s rooms, to try and hear her chatting and giggling on facetime to her friends, but there was only silence. When I walked through the front door, I expected her to come down the stairs to ask for a Domino's Pizza for tea but there was only silence. I would go into her bedroom to ask her where she had gone and if she was ok. It broke my heart to know that I would never get a response and I would never hear her voice again. I desperately wanted to know that she was OK and that she wasn’t alone and in pain anymore.
“The fact that Brianna was taken from me in such a heinous way causes a pain that I struggle to describe. No parent should ever have to bury their child. She should have been around for the rest of my life. Brianna had plans for her future which we will never have the chance to support her with. She wanted to go to college and study beauty therapy; she was looking forward to being old enough to have a little job like her big sister. We had also discussed her learning to drive, and she had even picked out which pink car she would like for her 18th birthday.
“When I remember the good memories that we made together it hurts so much because she’s not here anymore to remember them with me, and we will never get the chance to make more memories together."
Her older sister Alisha Ghey said: "The week of finding out (Brianna) had been taken from us, the house was silent. Our life had changed completely. I couldn’t sleep and all that I could think of is the missing presence of my sister. I can’t remember life without her, I haven’t been away from her for this long since before she was born. The loss of a younger sibling to something so horrific is indescribably painful, like a part of me is missing, I learnt to do everything with her and I feel that now she is gone I can’t keep growing as I did when I was with her.
“The anger and frustration of this as time went on and grew, the speculations going around further grew my anxieties of what trauma my sister was put through. I’d spend a lot of time away from home to get away from this sadness and anger and when I’d come back so would these dark feelings. I never felt alone with Brianna in the house. I would tell her everything and she would listen, not having that makes me feel more alone than ever."
Her stepdad Wesley Powell said: "Brianna was so full of life and now our home feels empty and silent without her. The collection of memories that we have of Brianna will always remain the same and it saddens me greatly that we will never have the chance to add to that collection.
“I often sit in Brianna’s room alone trying to picture what her room used to look like. I imagine her lay on her bed texting her friends and watching TV like she always did. I try to remember what her laughter and voice sounded like which could often be heard coming from her room. But now when I look I see only an urn where Brianna should be laying.
“Last month would have been Brianna’s 17th Birthday. Instead of laughter, singing, cake and pizza we sat in quiet contemplation. In December it was our first Christmas without Brianna. In February, it will be the anniversary of her murder and shortly after that the anniversary of her funeral. The cycle continues and our suffering will never end."
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