It felt like my heart had been ripped out…no parent should have to bury their child, Brianna Ghey’s grieving mum says

"My name is Esther Ghey. I am providing this victim impact statement in relation to my daughter, Brianna Ghey.

Brianna was an extremely vulnerable teenager. As Brianna’s mother I was constantly worried that she was putting herself in risky situations. She was diagnosed with ADHD and ASD as a teenager; with these conditions she found it extremely difficult to identify dangerous situations. Although, in this case, no one could have predicted that it was a dangerous situation for Brianna.

This was the hardest thing for me and the rest of Brianna’s family to come to terms with. Finding out that one of the people who had been charged for her murder was someone we believed to be her friend. Someone that we trusted. Someone that I was so happy that she had, fearing that my child had been lonely. Not knowing that this person had been planning, to not only cause harm, but to take the life of my precious child. I tried to protect Brianna so much when she was putting herself in harm’s way, and I failed by allowing her to meet Scarlett on that Saturday afternoon.

I was pleased to receive the text from Brianna on the afternoon of the 11th Feb, telling me that she was going out to meet her friend, In order to meet her, Brianna had managed to get on a bus by herself, something that was a first and a big deal for her. I had been concerned that Brianna wouldn’t be able to get herself to college due to her anxiety and this was a big breakthrough for her. 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. All I can think about is that she would have been scared and I wasn’t there for her. She needed me to protect her, Brianna wasn’t a fighter and she must have been so terrified.

The day of and the days following 11th of February were and always will be the worst days of my life. I felt like someone had killed part of me, like my heart had been ripped out. I have never felt such grief and I would never wish that pain on anyone else. At night, I shared my bed with Alisha as neither of us could sleep alone. I couldn’t eat and was in a complete daze, just living one day after the next. Our home was so quiet with Brianna gone.

Whenever I went into my bedroom, I’d put my ear against the wall that divided mine and Brianna’s rooms, to try and hear her chatting and giggling on facetime to her friends, but there was only silence. When I walked through the front door, I expected her to come down the stairs to ask for a Dominoes pizza for tea but there was only silence. I would go into her bedroom to ask her where she had gone and if she was ok. It broke my heart to know that I would never get a response and I would never hear her voice again. I desperately wanted to know that she was ok and that she wasn’t alone and in pain anymore.

The fact that Brianna was taken from me in such a heinous way causes a pain that I struggle to describe. No parent should ever have to bury their child. She should have been around for the rest of my life. Brianna had plans for her future which we will never have the chance to support her with. She wanted to go to college and study beauty therapy; she was looking forward to being old enough to have a little job like her big sister. We had also discussed her learning to drive, and she had even picked out which pink car she would like for her 18th birthday.

When I remember the good memories that we made together it hurts so much because she’s not here anymore to remember them with me, and we will never get the chance to make more memories together. Instead, the final memories that I carry, are the memories of hearing the news that my child had been found dead; memories of identifying Brianna’s lifeless body; memories of her funeral; and now to add to that, memories of the trial where the two people responsible for Brianna’s death have cowardly pointed the finger towards each other, showing no remorse and only interested in defending themselves.

Our lives have completely changed because of this crime. I tried to go back to work weeks after Brianna’s death but going back to my normal way of life just highlighted that she wasn’t with us. I would drive home knowing that she wouldn’t be there when I arrived. As a result, I haven’t worked since March. Brianna’s sister, Alisha, chooses to stay at her boyfriend’s house for most of the time because she feels such grief at home, it is so quiet without Brianna, and this is unbearable for her. Brianna was killed when Alisha was in college, studying for her second year of A levels. Alisha has always been a promising student who enjoyed learning and achieving, but she has struggled and decided to quit college for now. She has lost confidence in her abilities due to the time that she had off to deal with her grief, and I worry that the trauma that Alisha has experienced could negativity impact the rest of her life.

I believe that both Scarlett and Eddie continue to be a danger to society. Their behaviour has impacted my family terribly and I would never want them to have the opportunity to carry out their sadistic fantasies on another vulnerable person. As I’ve mentioned, I have another daughter and one day I will hopefully have grandchildren. I want to help to make society a safer place for them to grow up, and the thought of Scarlett and Eddie being released from prison absolutely horrifies me. I don’t believe that someone who is so disturbed and obsessed with murder and torture would ever be able to be rehabilitated. I have moments where I feel sorry for them, because they have also ruined their own lives, but I have to remember that they felt no empathy for Brianna when they left her bleeding to death after their premeditated and vicious attack, which was carried out not because Brianna had done anything wrong, but just because one hated trans people and the other thought it would be fun."