Father of boy who killed Brianna Ghey jailed for child sex offences
THE father of the male murderer of Brianna Ghey has been jailed after exposing himself to two 16-year-old girls days before his son’s trial began.
Kyle Ratcliffe – the 36-year-old father of Eddie Ratcliffe, who is serving life along with his accomplice, Scarlett Jenkinson, both 16, for the murder of Brianna, a transgender teenager – was given a 15-month sentence yesterday.
Ratcliffe, who appeared at Manchester Crown Court via video-link from custody at HMP Forest Bank, Salford, admitted two offences of exposure in November involving two 16-year-old girls at a bus stop on Nov 22. His son’s high-profile murder trial, at the same court, began on Nov 27.
Ratcliffe, from Leigh, Greater Manchester, also pleaded guilty to making an indecent image of a child by taking a mobile phone video of a prepubescent girl taking off her swimsuit at a public swimming pool in Cheshire. His barrister referred to the conviction and said it was “unrealistic to divorce his offending from what has befallen his family in the past 12 months”.
An order preventing reporting that Ratcliffe is the father of one of Brianna’s killers was lifted by Judge Potter. Ratcliffe spoke only to confirm his name and enter his guilty pleas. The court heard Ratcliffe showed the two 16-yearolds his genitals and separately filmed a young girl aged between 12 and 16 undressing and had stored the image on his phone in a folder marked “Stuff ”.
Police also found that his phone contained internet searches for indecent images of schoolgirls indulging in explicit sexual activity.
Ratcliffe has two previous convictions for indecent exposure, and had been ordered to undergo a rehabilitation programme to address his interest in young girls. In 2008, he was given a suspended prison sentence for exposure for masturbating in his car towards a girl aged 16.
In 2012, he was given a three-year community order for exposure after being seen masturbating behind the wheel of his vehicle while at a red light.
Judge Potter told Ratcliffe: “You made a deliberate decision to behave in this abusive, risk-taking way, creating the potential for harm to others.”