A teenage girl described as a "lovely kid" was stabbed to death in a park in Warrington - leading police forensics and dog teams to scour open fields in a Cheshire village.
Brianna Ghey, 16, was found dead by members of the public on a path in Culcheth's Linear Park, popular with dog-walkers, by members of the public at around 3.13pm Saturday (February 11). She had spoken to her mum earlier that day, but detectives said it was "too early to say" what the teenager was doing in the area and whether she had been to meet anyone.
A gymnastics coach, who knew the Birchwood High School pupil when she was slightly younger, told the ECHO: "She used to come into the gym in the school and do gymnastics with us, she was a lovely kid."
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A TikTok account belonging to Brianna with 11,000 followers showed her dancing and lip-syncing to music, and dancing in a park, although it was unclear whether it was the same area where she was found dead. Her final video was posted only hours before she died.
Brianna was killed in a "targeted attack" and there was "no wider risk to the public" according to Detective Chief Superintendent Mike Evans, of Cheshire Police.
However DCS Evans said he could not elaborate further other than to say the force was following "multiple lines of enquiry". Residents in the quiet estates surrounding the park expressed their shock at the sight of an air ambulance followed by "armed police" in the area around the park yesterday.
Locals told the ECHO forensic investigators and dog search teams appeared to be scouring an open field between the park and Clifton Avenue, where a few strands of police tape remained fluttering in the breeze. In the far distance behind the treeline, uniformed officers were still visible searching the area on Sunday evening.
One resident living opposite the field said: "You do hope they catch them. I was just getting out of the car on my way hope from work when I saw the air ambulance landing in the field.
"They started clearing people off the field with armed police, and you could see them searching with dogs throughout yesterday and today."
Another local told the ECHO: "The killer has to be local, you would have to know the area to be in that park. There are a lot of ways in and it splits into two levels where there was a railway track, it will be hard to track where they went."
DCS Evans said earlier: "It's a tragic and shocking set of circumstances which have unfortunately led to a 16-year-old girl losing her life, but I would like to reassure the community there are an awful lot of detectives working on this and we've got an increased presence in the area.
"You'll see lots of police officers out and about and community support officers. If you do have any concerns please go up to them, speak to them, and please don't speculate at this time."
Cheshire Police are seeking two people seen in the park around the time Brianna's body was found. DCS Evans described them as a white man and woman, in their late teens or early twenties, both with dark curly hair. The man was wearing a longish dark hooded coat and the woman had a distinctive red or purple, black checked blanket-style coat and a long flowing skirt, dress or trousers.
The force is also keen to speak to anyone who was in the park from around 1.30pm until 4.00pm yesterday or anyone who may have seen Brianna in the hours leading up to her death
Information can be shared with the investigation team online here or by calling 101, quoting reference IML 1476832.
Information can also be reported anonymously, via Crimestoppers, on 0800 555 111.
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