Brianna Ghey: Accused teenager tried to give girl overdose, jury told

A girl accused of murdering Brianna Ghey had tried to kill her with an overdose weeks before she died, a jury has been told.

Brianna, 16, who was transgender, was stabbed 28 times in Linear Park in Culcheth, Cheshire, on 11 February.

Two teenagers, identified only as girl X, from Warrington, and boy Y, from Leigh, deny her murder.

The prosecution said the teenagers, who were 15 at the time, discussed an overdose in texts sent on 23 January.

Manchester Crown Court heard that X had an interest in serial killers, and that her "fascination" with Brianna had "turned darker".

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The jury was told X texted Y that "nobody would get [suspicious]" as people "already know she is depressed".

"I gave her some today that should have been enough to kill her ... but she didn't die," the message read.

The two then discussed an alternative of giving Brianna ibuprofen gel in a McDonald's milkshake and Y said the pills X gave Brianna "might be slowly killing her".

The trial later heard how X had watched her "favourite film", Sweeney Todd, for the "9,000th time" the night before Brianna was killed, and the teenagers had discussed which knife could be used to stab her.

The jury heard a statement from Brianna's mother, Esther Ghey, who recalled a time in January when she found her daughter in her bedroom, in pain and "screaming and crying for me to help her".

She said: "She's never been like that before and never since.

"This was not long before she was killed."

Ms Ghey said she returned home from work at about 18:00 GMT, and shouted 'hi' up the stairs to Brianna - who screamed back, making her fear she had self-harmed.

She said she ran upstairs to find Brianna "rolling around in agony, screaming in pain saying, 'I think I'm going to die', before being sick on her bedroom floor.

She said Brianna suffered from anxiety and did not go out on her own, but she had texted her on the day she died saying she was scared but she was on a bus on her way to meet X.

Ms Ghey replied: "That's well good".

She added: "I was really proud of her. I don't think she ever saw it."

The court heard further text messages between the defendants, with X telling Y "I need help killing someone", and naming the intended target as another child, identified only as R.

"He's an easy kill ... he deserves to die," X added, before searching on the internet for facts about serial killers.

The jury heard Y said he would research Chinese torture, and had searched medieval torture techniques on his phone.

Y then said to X: "You distract him, I go from behind with the knife and stab him in the neck."

The trial heard X had talked about killing another child, known as E, as well as two others but she said child E was the easiest target.

"I want him to suffer. I want him to feel the pain of the knife," she said.

X said if they could not kill E, they could instead kill Brianna, the jury was told.

The trial later heard that X messaged Y referencing Sweeney Todd the night before Brianna was stabbed saying: "He kills people with one of the sharpest blades in the world."

She discussed with Y which knife he would use, and he said: "The hunting knife I showed you in person as well as on the phone."

The girl asked if it would "definitely 100% kill her" and boy Y replied: "Yes."

The court heard they planned to meet Brianna on 28 January, but she was unable to come.

X told Y that she could meet them after school on Tuesday.

Later that day, she messaged Y saying: "Let's kill Brianna tomorrow 6pm."

The court heard that boy Y said no, as he was unable to carry out the killing on a "school night".

X replied: "I don't want to wait, I just want her to die. I want to see pure horror on her face and hear her scream in pain".

Only X was in court for the third day of the trial, as Y is listening in remotely via video link from his secure accommodation unit.

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