Brianna Ghey: Boy denied carrying out 'frenzied' attack, jury told

A boy accused of murdering Brianna Ghey denied to police he carried out a "frenzied" attack on the teenager with a hunting knife, a jury has heard.

Brianna, 16, who was transgender, was stabbed 28 times at Culcheth Linear Park, Cheshire on 11 February.

Manchester Crown Court heard the attack was a "sustained and violent" assault "across her entire body".

Two teenagers, identified only as boy Y and girl X, who cannot be named because of their ages, both deny murder.

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Jurors were shown a video recording of boy Y's police interview, where he was accompanied by an appropriate adult and his solicitor.

Boy Y, who is autistic, was seen hugging a football, which helps calm him, as he was questioned by detectives.

They accused him of planning and conspiring with girl X to kill Brianna for a number of weeks before her death, after police found messages on the phones of both defendants.

Boy Y told police: "Girl X asks me about ways to kill. I just thought she was messing about. I was trying to go along with what girl X wants."

Officers asked him, if discussing ways to kill Brianna was a joke, why he had also discussed bringing a knife with him when the pair met Brianna and why he had agreed code words with girl X about when to ready the knife and when to strike.

"She had been acting like that, talking about murders, for ages," Boy Y said in the interview.

"She mentioned about being a satanist. So I just assumed that she wants to talk to me about planning murders because she sees me as a smart person."

The detectives then asked: "This is really important Y. If you are not the person that has stabbed this person, why would you need to bring a knife?".

Boy Y said he never brought a knife with him when Brianna was stabbed.

The jury has previously heard a hunting knife, with Brianna's blood on it and boy Y's DNA on the handle, was found in his bedroom at his home.

Boy Y said he and girl X met Brianna and went to the wooded park, but when he went behind a tree to urinate he then saw girl X stabbing Brianna three times.

In the interview Boy Y was told Brianna was stabbed "across her entire body", in what the pathologist described as a "frenzied" attack.

He told police: "I never tried to murder anyone. It goes against everything I already know and believe, everything.

"It stops anything I want to do in the future. I just never tried to do anything like what's happened."

The trial continues.

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