Eddie Ratcliffe: Brianna Ghey murderer bids to appeal against sentence

Eddie Ratcliffe, 16, was given a 20-year minimum sentence for killing Brianna Ghey

One of Brianna Ghey's murderers has made a bid to appeal against his sentence.

Eddie Ratcliffe was detained for life with a minimum term of 20 years for killing 16-year-old Brianna, who was transgender, in a park in Cheshire.

He and Scarlett Jenkinson had lured the teenager to Culcheth where she was stabbed 28 times with a hunting knife.

Ratcliffe, 16, has "applied for permission to appeal", the Judicial Office said.

There was "no record of an appeal" from Jenkinson, it added.

Brianna Ghey was found dead at Culcheth Linear Park after being stabbed 28 times

Ratcliffe and Jenkinson, who were 15 at the time of the killing, were last month given life sentences for the "brutal, planned and sadistic" murder in February 2023.

They had drawn up a "kill list" of five children, before settling on Brianna as their target.

Mrs Justice Yip said Jenkinson, who was given a minimum term of 22 years, was motivated by a "deep desire to kill" while Ratcliffe's motivation was in part hostility to Brianna's transgender identity.

A crumpled, handwritten note, a "murder plan" to kill Brianna, was found on Jenkinson's bedroom floor following her arrest.

Notes were also made on serial killers, including Jeffrey Dahmer, Richard Ramirez and Harold Shipman.

The trial heard that Ratcliffe had brought the hunting knife to Culcheth Linear Park.

Detectives found the blade with Brianna's blood on it in Ratcliffe's bedroom, and discovered his DNA on the handle.

Ratcliffe's defence had denied he was motivated by transphobia, describing offensive messages about Brianna that he shared with Jenkinson as "juvenile and immature".

Scarlett Jenkinson was given a minimum sentence of 22 years

The judge said Jenkinson had been the driving force behind the murder, but added that it would be "wholly wrong" to suggest Ratcliffe had been under her control.

Mrs Justice Yip added that the pair, who had blamed each other throughout the trial, would only be released if the parole board decided they no longer posed a danger to society.

Brianna's stepfather Wesley Powel told the court Brianna was "vulnerable", and both murders had deliberately targeted her, "acting as two predators stalking their prey".

• Brianna thought her killer was her friend, says mum

• Killer moved to Brianna's school after spiking girl

• Footage of Brianna Ghey's killers being arrested

In a victim impact statement read out in court before the sentences were handed down, Brianna's mother, Esther Ghey, said Jenkinson and Ratcliffe would always "pose a danger".

"I would never want them to have the opportunity to carry out their sadistic fantasies on another child," she said.

A senior judge will make the decision on whether to allow Ratcliffe's appeal to go ahead.

Killed in the Park

How Brianna Ghey's teenage killers tried to get away with murder

Watch now on BBC iPlayer

File on 4 also tells the story behind the brutal killing on BBC Sounds

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