Parents of Brianna Ghey remember her as ‘funny, witty and fearless’

The transgender 16-year-old was stabbed with a hunting knife in Linear Park, Culcheth, a village near Warrington, Cheshire, on the afternoon of February 11.

A boy and a girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were found guilty by a jury of the “disturbing” murder.

Emotional tributes were paid outside Manchester Crown Court on Wednesday, as Brianna’s parents spoke through tears to remember their daughter and speak of their loss.

Brianna’s mother, Esther Ghey, said she was her “precious child”.

“Brianna was larger than life,” she said.

“She was funny, witty and fearless.

“We miss Brianna so much and our house feels empty without her laughter.”

Peter Spooner, Brianna’s father, said it “breaks” him daily to know he will never see his daughter again.

“It is impossible to put into words how the murder of my child has affected me,” he told reporters.

“I never stopped loving her and I never will. When she was little I remember the faces she would pull to make me laugh.

“The cheeky giggle, the funny dances, are engraved in my memory.

“I knew she was going to be a star and the amount of support she received from the followers on TikTok proved this.

“I was so proud of what she could do.”

Referring to her “amazing talent”, he added: “I look into her eyes and they shine back at me, and I know she was a beautiful girl to be proud of.”

The parents condemned their daughter’s killers.

Brianna’s mother said they have not shown “an ounce of remorse” and, as a result, she has lost the sympathy she felt for them before the trial.

But she called for “empathy and compassion” for their families as “they too have lost a child” and “must live the rest of their lives knowing what their child has done”.

Mr Spooner denounced the “cruel and heartbreaking” actions of those who “brutally” took his daughter’s life.

He said: “I hate how her life has been brutally taken away from her and she’s been deprived of the life she wanted to live.

“It’s difficult to comprehend how some people can do these vile things in the world and don’t understand how cruel and heartbreaking their actions can be.”

In an interview with the BBC, Brianna’s mother said: “She was fearless to be whoever she wanted to be.

“She wanted to identify as a female and she wanted to wear girls’ school uniform and, yes, she just did it.

“It wasn’t a hurdle at all for her.”

Brianna’s headteacher remembered the teenager as “loud and proud and confident”.

Speaking to the BBC, Emma Mills said: “There was never any evidence of Brianna being bullied within school or out of school.

“Brianna was very much able to give as good as she got in that way.

“And I think what was really hard was that she was portrayed in the media as a victim and she didn’t live her life as a victim.

“She was someone that was loud and proud and confident in who she was.”