Concerns about the time Brianna spent on her cellphone, the inquest hears

Concerns have been raised about the amount of time Brianna Ghey spent online in the lead-up to her murder, an inquest has heard.

The 16-year-old, who was brutally stabbed by 15-year-olds Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe in a Warrington park in February 2023, had refused to let her mother look at her mobile phone or monitor her social media use.

The inquest heard that social workers who had worked with Brianna were not allowed to remove a child’s mobile phone.

Jenkinson lured Brianna to Culcheth Linear Park by texting her asking to meet her there.

The inquest heard the transgender teen had been diagnosed with ADHD and autism, and struggled with anxiety, self-harm and an eating disorder.

But despite being offered help, Brianna struggled to connect with support services, the inquest heard.

The 16-year-old did not allow her mother Esther Ghey, who had raised concerns about social media involvement, access to her phone.

In December 2022, a panel meeting of school staff and other professionals judged Brianna to be at “medium risk” of child sexual exploitation.

Fiona Cowan, head of child protection at Warrington Council, said the local authority or school could not force children to contact emergency services and Brianna’s social worker tried to work with her.

She said local authorities have no responsibility to remove mobile phones, which can only be carried out by parents.

Ms Cowan said she had known police would remove the phone if they thought a child was in danger.

The inquest heard that Brianna had refused to go to school shortly before the attack and a meeting took place on February 7, 2023, with school principals and her grandmother Marion Ghey.

It was to discuss her ‘unacceptable behaviour’ including using mobile phones at school and ‘challenging behaviour’ including disrespect towards staff and rolling up her skirt to make it shorter.

The inquest heard that Brianna “didn’t react well” at the meeting and was rude, describing the school rules as “ridiculous” and saying she would not adhere to them and not return to school.

Her grandmother apologized for Brianna’s behavior and thanked the school staff.

Following Brianna’s death, Esther Ghey has raised awareness about the risks of social media for children and called on the government to prevent children from accessing social media apps.

The three-day investigation also found that Jenkinson, who had a fixation with violent material on the dark web, injured herself before the murder, but there was no evidence she could be a danger to anyone else.

At her previous school, she had given a cannabis-infused candy to another student, who became ill and ended up in hospital.

Jenkinson was then transferred to Birchwood High School – where Brianna was a student – in what is known as a “managed transfer”.

However, her new school had not been told that the student who took the candy had been taken to hospital and was unaware that police had been contacted.

In a statement to the inquest, Angela Clark, deputy safeguarding lead at Birchwood High, said Jenkinson was described by Culcheth High School as “a good student who had made a mistake”.

She said Birchwood High did not carry out a risk assessment on Jenkinson, who appeared ‘quiet and reserved’, because they did not think her behavior suggested she posed a risk.

Fiona Cowan, head of child protection at Warrington Council, said an investigation into the case had found that Jenkinson’s managed transfer from Culcheth to Birchwood had been carried out within Department for Education guidelines but could have been more robust .

It had recommended that future school transfers be carried out through a multi-agency approach – rather than just schools – using information from mental health and other organisations.

The assessment did not find that the consequences for Brianna would have been different if there had been a different approach to Jenkinson’s transfer.

Jenkinson and Ratcliffe are serving minimum sentences of 22 and 20 years respectively after being convicted of murder.

The coroner is expected to explain her conclusion at Cheshire Coroner’s Court on Friday afternoon.