The parents, sister and stepfather of Brianna Ghey have given emotional victim impact statements during the sentencing of Eddie Ratcliffe and Scarlett Jenkinson. They spoke of a young, lonely, anxious girl who had faced many challenges, their trauma at her loss and the horrific nature of her death.
A series of statements, extracts of which are reproduced here, was read to the court as the two were being sentenced.
Esther Ghey, Brianna’s mother
Brianna was “an extremely vulnerable teenager”, her mother, Esther, said. She was “so happy” Brianna had found a friend in Jenkinson and pleased she was going to meet her that Saturday. “I thought that she would have a wonderful time, hanging around with her friend and getting some fresh air when all that time she was being lured to her death. All I can think about is that she would have been scared and I wasn’t there for her. She needed me to protect her, Brianna wasn’t a fighter and she must have been so terrified.”
She spoke of the silence now in the family home, of going into Brianna’s 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.”
Good memories hurt because Brianna was not there to remember them with. The final memories, she said, “are the memories of hearing the news that my child had been found dead; memories of identifying Brianna’s lifeless body; memories of her funeral; and now to add to that, memories of the trial where the two people responsible for Brianna’s death have cowardly pointed the finger towards each other, showing no remorse and only interested in defending themselves.”
Of Brianna’s killers, she said: “I have moments where I feel sorry for them because they have also ruined their own lives, but I have to remember that they felt no empathy for Brianna when they left her bleeding to death after their premeditated and vicious attack, which was carried out not because Brianna had done anything wrong, but just because one hated trans people and the other thought it would be fun.”
She added: “I don’t believe that someone who is so disturbed and obsessed with murder and torture would ever be able to be rehabilitated.”
Alisha Ghey, Brianna’s sister
The loss of her younger sibling was “so horrific”, “indescribably painful” and “like a part of me is missing”, Alisha Ghey said.
Learning of the “trauma my sister was put through” had heightened her anxieties. She would spend 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.
“I now feel anxious. I struggle to trust new people that I meet because it was Brianna’s friend who she trusted that took her life. I worry that the same thing might happen to me, my friends or family.
“I have attended counselling sessions but felt that no one could understand the pain that I am going through, and no one can ever make me feel better. The only thing that would make me happy again would be if I could hear Brianna’s voice and laughter, and cuddle up on my bed watching a film together like we used to do. But I will never get my sister back and I must carry that pain for the rest of my life.”
Wes Powell, Brianna’s stepfather
The memories of identifying Brianna’s lifeless body and carrying her coffin during her funeral had been “burnt” into his mind “and will haunt me for as long as I live”, said her stepfather, Wes Powell.
“The thought of Brianna laying face down in the dirt, terrified, in severe pain, covered in blood and all alone without her family for comfort, breaks my heart and fills me with sorrow.” She was “so full of life and now our home feels empty and silent without her”.
“I often sit in Brianna’s room alone trying to picture what her room used to look like. I imagine her lying 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.”
He said Brianna’s mother was no longer able to continue with the “dream career” she worked so hard for. Brianna’s sister, who wanted to go to university, had seen this opportunity “snatched away from her due to this trauma”. He had attended mental health sessions to try to cope with his guilt at “failing to protect my family”.
“Brianna had a large online following but in reality she was lonely, vulnerable and in need of a close friend. Both Eddie and Scarlett knew this and preyed upon her vulnerabilities acting as two predators stalking their prey.”
Ratcliffe and Jenkinson’s “refusal of guilt” and “lack of remorse” had caused further “torment”. “Brianna did not lose her life, it was stolen from her. I do not believe that society is a better or safer place with Scarlett or Eddie in it.”
Peter Spooner, Brianna’s father
At first, he said, being the father of a transgender child “was a difficult thing”. But though he grieved the son he had 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 on to further education.
“Now my world has been torn apart, justice may have been done with the guilty verdicts, but no amount of time spent in prison will be enough for these monsters. I cannot call them children as that makes them sound naive or vulnerable, which they are not. They are pure evil. Brianna was the vulnerable one.”
He added: “I wish I wasn’t standing here reading this statement today, but if I wasn’t then there would have been another father stood here in my shoes, another child from their list would have been brutally murdered and I wouldn’t wish this terror and pain on another person.”
