Brianna Ghey’s ‘unapologetic’ life as told by her grieving best friends

Friendship is at the epicentre of many teenagers’ worlds and this was no different for Brianna Ghey.

Over long phone calls, fun sleepovers and the desire to help each other navigate a time of life that can be equal parts joyful and testing, her relationships with friends Daisy, Lucie and Viv became pivotal. 

They were three of the most important people to Brianna, and in return, she was intrinsic to their lives. However, their bond was ripped apart on February 11, 2023 – a date forever engrained in their memory. 

On that day, Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe, both 15 at the time, lured 16-year-old Brianna to Culcheth Linear Park in Warrington and brutally ended her life.

Their heinous act snatched Brianna’s future and stole any remnants of a carefree childhood away from the trio who knew her.

Creating special bonds

Brianna Ghey’s best friends remember what made her such a special person to them (Picture: PA/Getty/Metro)

Daisy, now 17, met Brianna at age 11 on their first day of high school after they were both sent to the administrative office to wait for their parents, who were late to pick them up. Such tardiness was something Daisy would end up being eternally grateful for.

‘Within minutes we were pulling ugly faces to take funny pictures. It’s like we were long-time best friends,’ Daisy tells Metro.

‘Brianna was a comfort but also absolutely hilarious. After she moved school, we would still speak every day.’ 

Brianna and Daisy got along straight away (Picture: Supplied)

Lucie, 18, had a similarly sped-up friendship when Brianna joined Birchwood High School. In January 2022 they were both sat in the ‘Oak suite’ designed for students who didn’t always benefit from traditional lessons. Brianna had dyslexia, ADHD and ASD [autism spectrum disorder] and missed some schooling due to spending time in a facility for her mental health and body dysmorphia.

‘I told her that I liked her hair and in response, she followed me around and didn’t stop talking,’ Lucie fondly remembers.

‘I thought “Okay, we’re friends”. I’ve never got on with someone as quickly as I got on with Brianna. There was no warming up phase.’ 

Lucie has a lot of fun memories with Brianna(Picture: Supplied)

In the following months, if they weren’t physically together, the pair were always in touch somehow. They often spoke until the second they fell asleep, not even taking a break when Lucie showered. ‘I’d put my phone on the wall so we could keep chatting,’ Lucie remembers with a laugh, adding they would often be doing ‘anything we weren’t supposed to be doing!’

During one memorable sleepover in Brianna’s completely pink bedroom (‘She even painted the Playstation controller with pink nail varnish so when you touched it the colour melted onto your hands’), they dyed Lucie’s hair ‘bright orange’ much to her mum’s dissatisfaction. 

Although the pair had a lot of fun together, Brianna’s role in Lucie’s life was significant in another way too. When Lucie came out as bisexual while at school, things became more difficult for her. ‘We both loved being girly and were a little wild, but Brianna never judged me. I could tell her whatever and she’d say “As long as you’re happy”,’ she recalls. 

They both opened up to each other (Picture: Supplied)

‘I was crying constantly and had a rubbish time at school, but she made life easier. She understood because she’d gone through stuff herself.’ 

Brianna was born Brett before transitioning at age 14 during the nationwide lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic. When schools reopened she reintroduced herself to the world as Brianna. 

The teen didn’t just share herself with the people directly in her orbit, she also built a following on social media with makeup tutorials and dance videos, which Viv, now 17, first discovered in 2021. 

Viv commenting on Brianna’s TikTok led to a friendship (Picture: Supplied)

One day, she decided to comment on one of the TikToks, telling Brianna, ‘You’re gorgeous, I hope I’m like you one day’, which soon sparked a friendship between the two. Viv was also transitioning but wasn’t as far into the journey as her new friend, who was full of advice, from clothing choices to ‘passing’.

‘I struggled to accept being trans but Brianna was very proud of it. She helped me like that part of me a lot more,’ Viv tells Metro. 

Although their friendship lived online, Viv insists it was just as strong as anything that can be created offline. ‘There was no time limit to our conversations and we’d give each other pure, unbroken conversation,’ she remembers. 

‘I don’t always talk to every friend of mine for 30 minutes a day, but we’d often speak for three to four hours. We would prioritise scheduling time for each other. That is friendship.’

After two years of chatting, Viv and Brianna agreed to finally meet on a shopping trip at Manchester Trafford Centre. Their excitement was steadily building for their girly day – but just a week before their highly-anticipated hangout Brianna was murdered.

Saying goodbye

Initially, Daisy couldn’t believe the reports (Picture: Supplied)

Daisy was happy for Brianna when she made a new school friend in Scarlett Jenkinson in November 2022. Unbeknownst to Brianna and everyone else around them aside from Ratcliffe, Jenkinson was secretly researching ways to kill and making plans to murder Brianna.

Just a few months after their first meeting, Brianna planned to take the bus alone to meet Jenkinson, Daisy felt proud of her, as it was something the teen had never done before.

‘I knew it was a big step for her,’ she says. They also met Ratcliffe, who had not previously met Brianna but knew Jenkinson from both previously attending the same school. Nobody could have known that Jenkinson and Ratcliffe had been plotting Brianna’s death over a series of messages. 

The pair stabbed Brianna 28 times before fleeing the scene. Dog walkers found the young girl’s body and called the emergency services but they were unable to save her. The offence was motivated by sadistic tendencies and hate against transgender people was also a motive for Ratcliffe, the court ruled. Jenkinson and Ratcliffe were handed minimum terms of 22 and 20 years respectively.

Brianna was stabbed 28 times (Picture: ITV/Shutterstock)

When Daisy was sent an article about the murder she thought it was a ‘sick joke’ by somebody bullying Brianna. She instantly went into protective mode and wanted to make sure her friend was shielded from such cruel taunts.

Having been granted access to Brianna’s social media to help deal with trolls, Daisy logged on to delete any posts about what she still thought was a hoax.

‘I cared so much for her, I always wanted her to be okay so I thought I’m gonna have to help her deal with this,’ she explains.

However, as more and more messages came through, Daisy slowly realised this wasn’t the work of vile trolls – her friend really had been murdered. ‘That’s when it hit me – this was real.’

Daisy’s mother, who was doing a grocery shop, rushed back home to be by her daughter’s side and didn’t leave her for weeks. ‘When my mum would go for a shower, she’d have to get someone else to sit with me. I couldn’t ever be alone,’ she remembers. 

‘Everybody else was talking about the stress of GCSEs while I was trying to grieve my best friend.’ (Picture: Family handout/Cheshire Police/PA Wire)

‘It took me a while to return to school, then when I did I was sent straight out of my maths class because I was sobbing so much. I felt different from my classmates. Everybody else was talking about the stress of GCSEs while I was trying to grieve my best friend.’

Viv was sitting in her boarding school’s library revising for upcoming mock exams when she first became aware of the tragedy through a social media post: ‘I just started breaking down, so my two friends walked me back to my room,’ she remembers. ‘The journey is normally 15 minutes but it took me 35 because I couldn’t walk. People probably thought I was drunk.

‘For weeks I couldn’t eat, drink, or move. I didn’t even go to the toilet. It’s so grim, but it’s just the way it was. It was one of the most prolific murders of a trans person and she was a close friend so I was paranoid. I thought I would be next. 

‘When the police visited me because I was too scared to go to the station, they spent a lot of time reassuring me that I was safe.’

Everyone wore pink to Brianna’s funeral (Picture: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Lucie was making a sandwich when a friend sent her an article about Brianna’s murder. ‘I had a tomato in my left hand and my phone in my right hand. I dropped both,’ she recalls. ‘When I got into bed that night I was getting so many messages and calls that my phone started overheating.’

Brianna’s funeral in Warrington was the first that Daisy had ever attended, and she didn’t feel ready. She and others wore pink outfits as requested by the family, and the streets were packed with people. Not just those whopersonally knew Brianna, but also people who just wanted to pay their respects to the teen. They watched as a carriage with white horses carried her pink coffin. 

‘I understood that funerals were for goodbyes but it felt too soon for me. I hadn’t even processed that she’d gone,’ Daisy explains. There was a lot of attention on the funeral, but she was able to get a moment alone with Brianna’s coffin and gently placed a rose quartz bracelet on it.

‘Brianna used to wear one similar until my dog bit it off,’ she remembers, her voice momentarily sounding joyful. ‘She kept all the beads for years after it happened. When she passed away, I bought her a new one.’

Remembering Brianna

Esther said the friends did an ‘outstanding job’ of talking about Brianna in the ITV documentary (Picture: ITV/Shutterstock)

In a new ITV documentary, Brianna: A Mother’s Story, each of the trio has has spoken lovingly about their friend, alongside Brianna’s mum, Esther, who has campaigned tirelessly for more protection from online harm and mindfulness in schools since her daugher’s death. 

As part of the programme which looks back at Brianna’s life, and the murder investigation, the friends’ were adamant that her fun and loving personality was given an equal amount of precedence to the devastating end. They want to ensure that her legacy isn’t just sadness – something that Esther expressed gratitude for at a special first screening of the episode.

As the three girls now stand on the edge of adulthood, they are united in a mission to make sure their friend is never forgotten. ‘I talk about Brianna every day. I joke that my friends must be sick of hearing about her,’ Viv says with a laugh. 

‘I very much separate what happened to her from who she was. My therapist imposed that one.’

A framed picture of Brianna has been lovingly placed in Viv’s room (Picture: Supplied)

On her dressing table, she has placed a picture of Brianna so she can look at her every day. ‘Brianna helped with my recovery from eating disorders. When she passed, I thought “Okay, one of us needs to get better.” I feel like I’m living for both of us.’ 

Lucie becomes visibly emotional when talking about some of her final interactions with Brianna. ‘She was having a hard time and I reminded her that school is a very short part of your life. It’s just so sad that she never got to experience that future.’

She now looks for signs that Brianna is okay, and is adamant that she still contacts her. ‘I recently saw the sunrise from my office which isn’t usually visible from my window. It was bright pink – her favourite colour,’ Lucie says, as tears fall down her face.

‘She was just a girl living a life. What happened to her was a freak incident, and it shouldn’t stop anybody from living authentically because Brianna taught us all to be unapologetically ourselves.’

Brianna: A Mother’s Story will air Thursday at 9pm on ITV1, ITVX, STV & STV Player

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