One year on, town mourns for Brianna
BRIANNA Ghey’s mother yesterday spoke of her ‘amazing, unique and joyful’ daughter at a vigil marking a year since the teen’s murder.
Family members, neighbours and schoolmates gathered at the event organised by Esther Ghey to ‘remember and celebrate’ her daughter’s life.
Ms Ghey, 37, asked attendees to recall ‘the beautiful and sassy girl’ Brianna was, adding: ‘I want her to know how much she is loved.’
A two-minute silence was held as the crowd shone torches on their phones and held pink balloons – Brianna’s favourite colour. Candles were lit and tributes of flowers and teddy bears laid at the vigil in her hometown of Warrington, Cheshire.
Ms Ghey, supported by her fiance and Brianna’s sister Alisha, 19, said that she was ‘lucky to spend 16 years’ with her child, who gave her ‘so much happiness and love’. She added: ‘If there’s one piece of advice that I can give to any parent, it would be to hold your children tight and never stop telling them you love them.’
Brianna, who was transgender, was just 16 when she was lured to a park near Warrington and stabbed to death on February 11 last year.
Her 15-year- old killers, Scarlett Jenkinson – who Brianna thought was her friend – and Eddie Ratcliffe, were sentenced to 22 and 20 years, respectively, earlier this month. Brianna’s headteacher Emma Mills told those at the vigil to honour her memory by being ‘true to yourself’.
Ms Mills, of Birchwood Community High School, said Brianna ‘knew who she was and didn’t bow to the pressures around her’, adding: ‘Please remember that about her… Be yourself, and not a version of yourself that you think others want you to be’.
Esther Ghey is calling for controls on the content teenagers can access on their phones. She believes Brianna would still be alive if her killers had not been able to exchange disturbing messages or access the dark web.