By james art Distraught and vulnerable, unsuspecting Brianna, 16, was stabbed 28 times with a hunting knife in her head, neck, chest and back after being lured to Linear Park, Culchett, a village near Warrington, Cheshire, on the afternoon of February 11 last year.
Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe, both 15 at the time, were jailed for life for the “sadistic” murder of the transgender teenager.
Brianna was a pupil at Birchwood High School, Warrington, where she befriended Jenkinson, who had transferred from Culchett High School, after she ‘sprayed’ a younger pupil with cannabis sweets.
After her “managed transfer” from Culchett, where Ratcliffe was a student, within weeks Jenkinson became obsessed with Brianna and began plotting her murder with Ratcliffe.
From the age of 14, Jenkinson enjoyed watching videos of real-life murders and torture on the dark web, fantasized about murder and had an interest in serial killers, her murder trial heard.
But their “dark fantasies” were not known to the school or other adults, their trial heard.
The three-day inquest at Warrington Coroner’s Court examined the collateral of all three teenagers and how Brianna was brought into contact with Jenkinson.
But the hearing was told that despite Jenkinson’s bad behavior at school, no one could have predicted that she planned and would go on to kill Brianna.
Closing the inquest, Jacqueline Devenish, senior coroner for Cheshire, said: “There was no reason for anyone to suspect that the friendship was anything other than genuine.
“I found Birchwood High School to offer Brianna a high standard of support in a caring environment.”
Ms Devenish said there were no visible signs that Jenkinson was at risk to Brianna.
She added: “She had been planning Brianna’s murder since the end of 2022. Eddie Ratcliffe was the only person who knew, apart from Scarlett Jenkinson.
“I found that the schools could not reasonably have foreseen that Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe would have conspired and killed Brianna.
“Based on the evidence available at the time, Scarlett Jenkinson could not reasonably have been predicted to be mentally unstable so as to kill.”
Both Brianna and Jenkinson had a history of self-harm and personal issues affecting their studies.
Jenkinson also assaulted another student and showed up to class drunk and smelling of cannabis.
Brianna was diagnosed with autism and ADHD and was reassigning her gender.
Esther Gay, her mother, said her daughter was “sunk in darkness”, falling behind on schoolwork and spending a lot of time online, amassing thousands of followers on TikTok and YouTube by posting video content.
But Ms Gay said her daughter’s online world was “very toxic” and she was believed to be at risk of sexual exploitation.
Concerns had been raised about her online interactions before her killing spree, but she had refused to allow her mother access to her phone and her school had also been unable to remove the device from her, the hearing was told.
Esther Ghey is now campaigning to raise awareness of the dangers of social media to children and to introduce more parental controls.
Jenkinson must serve a minimum of 22 years before becoming eligible for parole, and Ratcliffe 20 years.