Brianna Ghey: Father of Brianna killer jailed for sex offences

The father of a teenage boy who murdered Brianna Ghey has been jailed for 15 months after pleading guilty to sex offences.

Kyle Ratcliffe, 36, admitted two offences of exposure and one count of taking an indecent photo of a child.

His son Eddie Ratcliffe was convicted alongside Scarlett Jenkinson of murdering 16-year-old Brianna in a park in Culcheth, Cheshire in February 2023.

He was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 20 years in February.

Jenkinson was given a 22-year sentence.

Kyle Ratcliffe, of Leigh, admitted two offences of exposure involving two 16-year-old girls at a bus stop, which were committed on successive days in November last year, shortly before his son went on trial.

The father-of-three, who had run a kick-boxing gym in Leigh, had been driving his Maserati car along a road at about 07:45 GMT.

As he passed the two girls, who were waiting to go to college, he turned his head towards them and as they looked back at him they could see his hand moving and his trousers pulled down to his knees.

Michelle Brown, prosecuting, said one girl was “shocked and in disbelief” at what she had seen.

The next day, he again passed them on the road at the same bus stop and was seen carrying out a sex act on himself again in his car.

On this occasion, one of the girls, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, took a photo of his car with her mobile phone.

Ratcliffe also pleaded guilty to taking an indecent photo of a pre-pubescent girl by covertly recording her in a changing room at a water park in Cheshire in August 2023.

He initially told a “pack of lies” to police, claiming the video had been sent to him and the exposure offences were caused by a medical problem he had.

But Ratcliffe, who appeared from custody at HMP Forest Bank, Salford, has previous past convictions for similar offences.

In 2008, he was given a suspended prison sentence for exposure in front of a girl aged 16.

In 2012, he was given a three-year community order for exposure after being seen carrying out a sex act on himself behind the wheel of his vehicle while stopped at a red light.

Mark Friend, mitigating, said, “One knows not the motivation to behave in the way he did.

“The reality is, it is perhaps either difficult or unrealistic to divide this defendant from that which has befallen his family.

“So far as their life as it is now, it is but a shadow that they enjoyed prior to February 2023.

“The defendant accepts that he has played his own part in this misery and left his wife and other two children dealing with that burden alone.”

Judge John Potter said the prosecution and conviction of his son for murder was not “in any way” mitigation for the offending.

“This is not the first time in your life you have harmed others in this way,” he said.

“The offences on this indictment coupled with your previous convictions make it quite clear that you have a sexual attraction towards female children and teenagers whom you objectivise for the purpose of your own sexual gratification.

“This, Mr Ratcliffe, has potential to cause very serious harm and portrays you, in my judgment, as currently presenting a significant risk to such individuals.”

A reporting restriction preventing publication of Ratcliffe’s prosecution was lifted earlier by Judge Potter.

The cold-blooded killing of Brianna, who was transgender, shocked people across the world.

Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe, who had a fascination with violence, torture and murder, had planned the murder for weeks and had drawn up a “kill list” of five children, before settling on Brianna as their target.

Brianna was attacked with a hunting knife in broad daylight after being lured to Culcheth Linear Park, suffering stab wounds to her head, neck, chest.

Both teenagers then went home and carried on as if nothing had happened before being arrested the following the day.

During the 18-day trial, they blamed each other for the killing but they were both convicted of her murder and jailed.

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