Teen killer of Brianna Ghey has bid to appeal sentence rejected

Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr delivers her judgment on Ratcliffe’s appeal for a reduction in his 20 year sentence.
A teenager serving a life sentence for the murder of the school girl Brianna Ghey has had his appeal against his sentence rejected.
Eddie Ratcliffe was 15 when, alongside Scarlett Jenkinson, he lured fellow school pupil Brianna to Culcheth’s Linear Park in Warrington, before stabbing her 28 times with a hunting knife in a “sustained and violent” assault.
Detaining Ratcliffe and Jenkinson to 20 years and 22 years respectively, at Manchester Crown Court, Mrs Justice Yip called the murder “brutal and planned” partly motivated by “hostility” due to Brianna’s transgender identity.
She said the pair would only be released if the “no longer posed a danger” – a decision taken by the parole board.
Ratcliffe later launched the appeal against his sentence – but three Court of Appeal judges found that the “starting point of 20 years for the minimum term was correct”.
Handing down the sentence, Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr, sitting with Mr Justice Lavender and Mr Justice Murray said: “We conclude that the sentence imposed by the judge on the applicant was neither manifestly excessive nor wrong in principle.
“The applicant’s application for leave to appeal is refused.”
She added Brianna “had her whole life ahead of her” and “made a real impact in her short life”, continuing: “Her family remember her for her laughter, for being full of life and being a good listener.”
Earlier the court heard how Ratcliffe’s sentence should be reduced as a judge failed to take into account his “maturity”.
Appealing his sentence, lawyers for Ratcliffe, who has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and selective mutism, said that the judge failed to “sufficiently” take into account his age and maturity when deciding his sentence.
Speaking at the court in London, Richard Littler KC, for Ratcliffe, earlier said: “It is culpability and maturity which are at the heart of this application.”
Mr Littler continued: “It is right to say that on any analysis of the applicant’s maturity, he is closer to the starting point of a 14-year-old rather than a 17-year-old boy.”
He added: “The point we make is age and maturity were very important issues in this case, and could very much affect the end result for this particular applicant.”
The Crown Prosecution Service opposed the appeal bid, claiming that the sentence was “appropriate” and was not “manifestly excessive”.
The two teens, who were 15 at the time, denied her murder and blamed each other – but following a four week trial a jury at Manchester Crown Court unanimously found them guilty of murder.
They were known only as Girl X and Boy Y after reporting restrictions were put in place because of their age, but were named after Mrs Justice Yip ruled there was “a strong public interest”.
The judge said the “exceptionally brutal” murder had elements of transphobic hate by Ratcliffe and sadism by on the part of Jenkinson.
Who is Eddie Ratcliffe?
Ratcliffe, who was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and is non-verbal, passed eight GCSEs and was self-teaching himself A-levels with a view to study microbiology at university.
His father was a manager in industry, and mother works in the creative industries.
Following his arrest Ratcliffe “gradually stopped speaking” to anyone apart from his mother, and was diagnosed with selective mutism.
He had been a kickboxer, who, Jenkinson’s lawyer said, “knew how to deliver a punch”.
Ratcliffe, who also avoids all eye contact, was often seen in court carrying a Sudoku puzzles book.
He gave evidence by typing on a keyboard, sat behind a desk in a side room of the courtroom with his answers spoken by an intermediary sat beside him, and watched by the jury in the courtroom by video link.
He said he went along with Jenkinson’s “dark fantasies”, but did not take them seriously, as she was “always talking about murder and nothing happens”.
A notebook, found at Jenkinson’s house, described Ratcliffe as “very, very smart, genius level” but also a “sociopath”, lacking emotion and socially awkward, who only had three followers on Instagram.
How could two seemingly ‘innocent’ teenagers became killers, concocting a kill list, luring Brianna into a park and stabbing her, in a “frenzied and ferocious” attack, 28 times? Rob Smith takes a look on From the North.