Brianna Ghey: CPS comments after teens found guilty

The Crown Prosecution Service has released a statement following a jury returning a guilty verdict for the two 16-year-old defendants.

They cannot be named for legal reasons.

Deputy chief crown prosecutor Ursula Doyle of CPS Mersey Cheshire said: “This has been one of the most distressing cases the Crown Prosecution Service has had to deal with.

"The planning, the violence and the age of the killers is beyond belief.

“Brianna Ghey was subjected to a frenzied and ferocious attack and was stabbed 28 times in broad daylight in a public park.

“Girl X and Boy Y appear to have been a deadly influence on each other and turned what may have started out as dark fantasies about murder into a reality.

“The pages and pages of WhatsApp messages between the two, planning and plotting to kill people, talking of murder, torture and cruelty were very difficult to read.

“The messages provided a terrifying insight into the minds of the two defendants. However, they also provided us with the detailed planning of the attack and then the attempts to cover it up.

“The Crown Prosecution Service authorised a charge of murder for both of the defendants.

"They were both equally responsible in planning the killing and carrying it out. In the trial, the defendants tried to blame each other to absolve themselves.

"The jury has clearly seen their explanations for the lies that they were.

“This has been a difficult prosecution not least because two very young people were on trial for the most serious offence known to criminal law.

"It has involved using a number of measures to ensure that the defendants could participate fully in the trial and enable them to give their evidence.

“The Crown Prosecution Service would like to thank the family of Brianna Ghey for the courage and dignity that they have shown throughout these proceedings.

"We hope today’s verdict brings some solace, and our thoughts and sympathies remain with them at this difficult time.”