A boy accused of luring Brianna Ghey to her death in a park told police he had been ‘playing along’ with a ‘fantasy’ dreamt up by a teenage girl who had boasted about already having killed people, a court heard Tuesday.
But the 16-year-old, who can only be referred to as Boy Y, agreed that the ‘joke’ had ‘gone too far’ when Brianna was stabbed 28 times and left dying face-down in the mud, jurors were told.
The boy, who was 15 at the time, admits bringing a hunting knife when he and his co-accused, Girl X, arranged to meet up with 16-year-old Brianna, who was transgender.
However he denies inflicting the fatal wounds, claiming he turned away for a moment before seeing Girl X – also then aged 15 – stab Brianna ‘at least three times’ before the pair fled.
Boy Y and Girl X, who are said to have been fascinated by torture, violence and death, deny murdering Brianna in Culcheth Linear Park near Warrington, Cheshire on February 11.
A handwritten alleged ‘murder plan’ to kill Brianna was later found in the bedroom of Girl X, who was obsessed with serial killers and had described herself as a ‘Satanist’, the trial has heard.
Details of the injuries which caused ‘catastrophic blood loss’ to Brianna were Tuesday spelt out to the jury at Manchester Crown Court by a Home Office pathologist who carried out a post mortem.
It took about two hours to detail the location of the injuries using computer-generated images.
Dr Alison Armour said the schoolgirl had been victim of a ‘sustained and violent assault‘, suffering stab wounds which would have required ‘considerable force’ to inflict.
One of the knife wounds alone would have been sufficient to prove fatal, she said.
The injuries were ‘consistent’ with Boy Y’s 12cm (4¾in) hunting knife which was found, with Brianna’s blood still on it, in his bedroom following his arrest the following evening, Dr Armour said.
She was quizzed by Richard Pratt KC, defending Girl X, as to whether it would be ‘fair to say they also required considerable strength?’
‘Someone who is fairly strong,’ he added.
Dr Armour replied: ‘It requires a degree of strength, I accept that.’
Girl X had told Boy Y that she had previously killed two people as they swapped messages about a list of five children they wanted to kill, the trial has heard.
When their first intended target blocked Instagram messages from Girl X, the pair are said to have turned their attention to Brianna, with whom she had become ‘obsessed’, it was claimed.
