Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe, 16, have been sentenced to life in prison. Photo credit: Cheshire Police, England.
Two British teenagers were ordered to be detained for life on Friday at Manchester Crown Court for the "sadistic" knife murder of a 16-year-old transgender girl that shocked the country.
Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe, both 16, killed Brianna Ghey in Warrington, northwest England, in February last year, in what the judge called a planned "frenzied and ferocious" assault.
Ghey was stabbed 28 times in the head, neck, back and chest after believing she was going to meet a friend. Her body was discovered by dog walkers in a park.
Jenkinson and Ratcliffe were just 15 at the time.
"You both took part in a brutal and planned murder which was sadistic in nature," Judge Amanda Yip told the pair as she handed down the sentence at Manchester Crown Court.
Yip said that Jenkinson's "primary motivation" had been a desire to kill, but the pair had also been motivated in part by Ghey's transgender identity.
The judge ruled that Jenkinson must serve a minimum of 22 years before being considered for release, while Ratcliffe must serve at least 20 years.
Ghey in an undated photograph released by Chesire police.
"If you remain a danger you will serve very much longer than the minimum term and may never be released," she warned.
Yip had earlier taken the rare step of lifting a ban on identifying juveniles after media outlets challenged the restriction.
Under-18s are typically granted anonymity in UK courts, but Yip ruled that their names could be reported at Friday's sentencing hearing owing to the gravity of the case.
A jury of seven men and five women convicted Jenkinson and Ratcliffe in December after nearly five hours of deliberations, following a four-week trial.
The court heard how Jenkinson and Ratcliffe had discussed killing Ghey in the days and weeks before the attack.
Jenkinson, referred during the trial as girl X, had downloaded an internet browser app that allowed her to watch videos of the torture and murder of real people, in "red rooms" on the "dark web".
She had developed an interest in serial killers, making notes on their methods, and admitted enjoying "dark fantasies" about killing and torture, the court was told.
The pair drew up a "kill list" of four other youths they intended to harm until Ghey had the "misfortune" to be befriended by Jenkinson, who became "obsessed" with her, according to prosecutors.
During the trial, Jenkinson and Ratcliffe had blamed each other for instigating the stabbing.
Ghey had thousands of followers on the social media platform TikTok but in person was a withdrawn, shy and anxious teenager who struggled with depression and rarely left her home, the jury heard.
Deputy chief crown prosecutor Ursula Doyle said after the verdict that the case had been "one of the most distressing" that she had ever dealt with.
"The planning, the violence and the age of the killers is beyond belief," she noted.
Before Yip announced her sentence, Ghey's parents made emotional witness statements.
Her father Peter Spooner said his world had been "torn apart" by his daughter's murder and "no amount of time spent in prison will be enough for these monsters".
"I cannot call them children as that makes them sound naive or vulnerable which they are not, they are pure evil. Brianna was the vulnerable one," he said.
The victim's mother, Esther Ghey, recalled that she had been "pleased" when Brianna sent a text message on the day she died to say she was going to meet a friend.
"I thought that she would have a wonderful time, hanging around with her friend and getting some fresh air. When all that time she was being lured to her death," she said in a statement read by prosecutors.
The prosecution had claimed that the killers had been motivated in part by Ghey being transgender, but defence lawyers denied this.
Source: AFP
殺害跨性別女孩的英國青少年將終身監禁
週五，兩名英國青少年因“虐待狂”持刀謀殺一名震驚全國的 16 歲跨性別女孩，在曼徹斯特刑事法庭被判處終身監禁。
去年2 月，16 歲的斯嘉麗·詹金森(Scarlett Jenkinson) 和艾迪·拉特克利夫(Eddie Ratcliffe) 在英格蘭西北部沃靈頓殺害了布萊恩娜·蓋伊(Brianna Ghey)，法官稱這是一次有計劃的「瘋狂而兇猛」的襲擊。
蓋伊 (Ghey) 相信自己要去見一位朋友，結果頭部、頸部、背部和胸部被刺 28 刀。 她的屍體是在公園裡被遛狗者發現的。
詹金森和拉特克利夫當時只有 15 歲。
「你們倆都參與了一場殘酷且有計劃的謀殺，本質上是虐待狂，」阿曼達·葉法官在曼徹斯特刑事法庭宣判時告訴兩人。
葉說，詹金森的「主要動機」是殺人慾望，但兩人的部分動機也來自蓋伊的跨性別認同。
她警告說： “如果你仍然構成危險，你的服刑時間將比最低刑期長得多，而且可能永遠不會被釋放。”
在媒體質疑這項限制後，葉先生早些時候採取了罕見的措施，取消了對青少年進行身份識別的禁令。
英國法院通常會允許 18 歲以下青少年匿名，但 Yip 裁定，由於案件的嚴重性，可以在周五的量刑聽證會上公佈他們的名字。
七名男性和五名女性組成的陪審團經過四週的審判，經過近五個小時的審議，於 12 月判定詹金森和拉特克利夫有罪。
法庭聽取了詹金森和拉特克利夫在襲擊發生前幾天和幾週內如何討論殺死蓋伊的問題。
詹金森在審判期間被稱為女孩 X，她下載了一款互聯網瀏覽器應用程序，可以讓她觀看“暗網”上“紅屋”中酷刑和謀殺真人的視頻。
法庭獲悉，她對連環殺手產生了興趣，記錄了他們的方法，並承認享受關於殺戮和酷刑的「黑暗幻想」。
檢察官稱，兩人擬定了一份“殺戮名單”，列出了他們打算傷害的另外四名年輕人，直到蓋伊“不幸”與詹金森成為朋友，詹金森對她“著迷”。
在審判期間，詹金森和拉特克利夫互相指責對方煽動刺傷事件。
陪審團獲悉，蓋伊在社交媒體平台 TikTok 上擁有數千名粉絲，但她本人卻是一個性格孤僻、害羞且焦慮的青少年，她與抑鬱症作鬥爭，很少離開家。
副首席檢察官烏蘇拉·多伊爾在判決後表示，此案是她處理過的「最令人痛苦的案件之一」。
「策劃、暴力和兇手的年齡令人難以置信，」她指出。
在葉宣布判決之前，蓋伊的父母發表了情緒激動的證人證詞。
她的父親彼得·斯普納（Peter Spooner）表示，他的世界因女兒的謀殺而“四分五裂”， “對於這些怪物來說，在監獄裡度過的時間再多也不夠”。
「我不能稱他們為孩子，因為這讓他們聽起來天真或脆弱，但事實並非如此，他們是純粹的邪惡。布麗安娜是脆弱的一個，」他說。
受害者的母親艾絲特蓋伊回憶說，當布麗安娜去世當天發短信說她要去見一位朋友時，她感到「很高興」。
「我以為她會度過一段美好的時光，和她的朋友一起閒逛，呼吸新鮮空氣。但在這段時間裡，她一直被引誘而死，」她在檢察官宣讀的聲明中說。
檢方聲稱兇手的部分動機是蓋伊是跨性別者，但辯護律師否認了這一點。
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