Two teenagers have been convicted of the “sadistic” murder of a 16-year-old ‘trans’ girl with a hunting knife

The court heard that since his conviction, Jenkinson admitted taking part in the stabbing murder of 16-year-old Brianna, an ‘outspoken and proud’ transsexual girl who had a massive following on TikTok. Jenkinson had previously blamed Ratcliffe for the murder.

The 16-year-old girl told a psychiatrist that she had stabbed Brianna “repeatedly” and that she found it “exciting” and that she killed her because she thought the girl would stop being her friend. As stated in court, he murdered Brianna so she could “be with him forever”.

Deanna Heer Casey, prosecuting, said a psychiatrist who had previously assessed Jenkinson had gone to see him in the secure unit where he had been held since his arrest. “On that occasion, he provided a different version. She said, in fact, at the time of the murder, she had injured herself with a knife. He said he knocked the knife out of Eddie’s hand and stabbed Brianna repeatedly. She claimed that Edie threw Brianna to the ground and stabbed her three and four times, then became nervous and said he did not want to kill her, so she moved forward and stabbed her multiple times. When asked how many times, he said ‘a lot’.

The killer said she wanted to keep Brianna’s “beautiful eyes.”

She further said that she understood that he had stabbed Brianna enough to kill her and that she was excited by what he was doing. He also admitted to the psychiatrist that he “intended to take parts of Brianna’s body as souvenirs.” He previously told Ratcliffe that he wanted to keep Brianna’s “beautiful eyes.”

Jenkinson and Ratcliffe met at school in Warrington when they were 11 and remained friends after Scarlett moved to Birchwood School in autumn 2022, following an incident in which she brought edible cannabis products into the classroom.

It was at Birchwood where Jenkinson became friends with Brianna, who was not attending mainstream classes due to anxiety and eating disorders.

The teenagers carefully planned the murder since they were 15, with Jenkinson planning in handwriting how, where and when they would stab Brianna. They also had a code word, “Gay”, to mark the beginning of the attack in Warrington. He almost accomplished this, stabbing Brianna 28 times, before a couple walking their dogs stopped them.

a hunting knife

Later, several reports were sent about the murder, feigning ignorance of the attack. But the facade soon fell, with Jenkinson asking Ratcliffe: “Are you worried about getting caught?” She said, “Probably,” to which he replied, “They’re not going to catch you, don’t worry. The police here are bad.

Ratcliffe met Brianna for the first time on the day of the murder. While planning the murder, he repeatedly called her not “she” but “it” and said that “he just wanted to see what size his penis was.” Giving evidence, he insisted he was not transphobic and accused Jenkinson of murder. But it was his hunting knife, purchased on a ski trip to Bulgaria during the 2022-23 Christmas holidays, that was used to stab Brianna.

After his arrest the day after the murder, police found him in his room. His and Brianna’s DNA were found on the knife. Brianna’s blood was also found on her shoes and coat.

There was no forensic evidence linking Jenkinson to the gun, and no blood stains were found on his clothing. After his arrest, Jenkinson made up a story about Brianna “going out with a guy from Manchester”, but when faced with the evidence against the couple he blamed Ratcliffe.

In the courtroom, the teenagers never looked at each other and were separated by security guards and arbitrators to ensure they understood the judicial process. Prosecutors told jurors they did not have to decide which teen killed Brianna or whether both of them stabbed her, because it was a joint murder. Both murderers had relatively stable family lives, with their parents present in the courtroom during the trial, while Brianna’s mother, Esther Ghee, watched from the public balcony. According to Cheshire Police crime chief, Detective Sergeant Mike Evans, the teenagers were “really intelligent”.