Brianna killer ‘heard voices’ and was facing exclusion from second school

The schoolgirl who murdered Brianna Ghey was facing being kicked out of a second school when she carried out the “sadistic” killing, an inquest heard.

Scarlett Jenkinson, 15, after poor behaviour at Culcheth High School was on a “managed transfer” to Birchwood High, but this was about to fail when she was arrested for murder, Warrington Coroner’s Court heard.

The inquest into Brianna’s death is examining the placement of Jenkinson at Birchwood, where she then befriended “vulnerable” Brianna, who she went on to kill with Eddie Ratcliffe, a friend from Culcheth High.

Brianna, 16, was lured to Culcheth Linear Park by Jenkinson and Ratcliffe, both 15 at the time, where she was stabbed 28 times with a hunting knife on February 11 last year.

Both killers were jailed for life, with trial judge Mrs Justice Yip ruling the “frenzied” and “brutal” murder had elements of sadism, with a secondary motive being the victim’s trans identity.

The inquest heard Culcheth never made it explicitly clear to Birchwood that Jenkinson had been involved in “spiking” a younger pupil with drugs at school.

And in a statement jointly approved by both school’s lawyers, they said there is “no consistent recollection” about the information passed on about Jenkinson from one school to the other.

But the schools say, even if all available details had been passed on, it was still likely Birchwood would have taken Jenkinson on as a pupil.

In any event Jenkinson was involved in a second cannabis related incident at her new school and the transfer about to fail, leaving her permanently excluded.

Days later Jenkinson carried out the murder with Ratcliffe.

Emma Mills, head teacher at Birchwood High School said there was nothing to suggest Brianna being in the same school as Jenkinson put her in danger or Jenkinson was a risk to other students.

The Tuesday before Brianna was murdered on the Saturday, Ms Mills said Jenkinson had been missing from school and was found in the toilets at an Asda store across the road.

“She was really upset and was hearing voices saying unkind things,” Ms Mills told the hearing.

By then Birchwood was about to end Jenkinson’s managed transfer, after an incident involving cannabis edibles in school, the same issue that had caused her to transfer from Culcheth.

From age 14, Jenkinson had enjoyed watching videos of real killing and torture on the dark web, fantasised about murder and developed an interest in serial killers.

Ms Mills was asked if the schools knew any of this information.

“No, nothing at all,” she said, adding that she had concluded, nothing had been “missed” by any of the schools or agencies.

Suzy Saffrey, designated safeguarding lead at Culcheth High School, told the hearing about Jenkinson’s record at her first school.

Ms Saffrey said Jenkinson had poor punctuality and from year nine onwards, school records show a series of incidents she was responsible for or involved in.

In October 2020 she had come into school smelling very strongly of cannabis, but she, and her family, declined any support and Jenkinson denied taking drugs so was not sanctioned.

The parents told the school the smell came from cannabis treatment for the family’s elderly dog.

The inquest heard her parents were difficult to contact, with emails and calls left unanswered.

After a one-day internal isolation for an incident whose circumstances were not recorded, in May 2021, she was given another day in the behaviour inclusion centre for assaulting another student.

In January 2022, with Jenkinson now in Year 10, she and a friend had drunk alcohol before coming into school, “under the influence”, the inquest heard, for which she was suspended for two days, but the girl and her family declined any support from the local drug and alcohol team.

In March 2022 she was given another one day in the isolation unit for making a racist comment to another pupil and in June received a lunchtime detention for undefined “poor behaviour”.

Two months later in May, Ms Saffrey said some boys reported there was an inappropriate photo of a girl pupil in the school going round online.

The victim said her Snapchat account had been logged into by Jenkinson, who had then shared the photo but Jenkinson denied any wrongdoing and was not sanctioned.

In September 2022, Jenkinson brought in some cannabis-laced sweets and while in the school library encouraged another girl, two years younger, to eat the sweet, making her unwell.

This incident led to her being transferred to Birchwood.

The hearing was adjourned until Friday morning.