Esther Ghey says Scarlett Jenkinson’s mother was “open” and “respectful”
By Judith Burns and Katie Roberts
BBC
Murdered teenager Brianna Ghey’s mother has met a parent of one of her daughter’s killers, five weeks after they were sentenced for murder.
Esther Ghey said she felt a “connection” to Scarlett Jenkinson’s mother, Emma, who had shown “a great deal of bravery”.
“Both of us are mothers trying to navigate something that nobody should ever have gone through,” she said.
Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe murdered Brianna, 16, in February 2023.
The pair, both also now aged 16, are serving life sentences for her “brutal, planned and sadistic” murder.
Last month, Ms Ghey told the BBC she was “open” to meeting Scarlett’s mother, Emma Jenkinson, and did not blame her for what happened.
“If she ever wants to speak to me, I’m here,” she said then, adding that she wanted to understand “how their life was, and what they went through”.
The meeting of the two mothers – which took place in private last week – was set up through mutual contacts of their families.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast’s Sally Nugent, Ms Ghey described meeting Ms Jenkinson as “emotional”, and said she had “wanted to understand her perspective”.
“As a parent you never want to give up on your child – you will always have that maternal instinct, you’ll want to support them, regardless,” she said.
Ms Ghey, who was often tearful during the BBC interview, also drew parallels between both their experiences.
“What has happened has impacted their family massively, just the same as it has impacted mine,” she said. “What they’ve gone through is terrible as well.
“They haven’t only lost a child, but they’ve also got to live with what’s happened for the rest of their lives.”
Ms Ghey described Scarlett Jenkinson’s family as “very nice people, very normal people”, and said she was grateful to them for agreeing to meet her.
Since Brianna’s murder, she said she has “good days and bad days”, but “the kindness we’ve received from people – as well as Scarlett’s family – just shows that there is hope of unity, and for people to be better to one another”.
At the meeting, the two women also discussed Esther Ghey’s campaigns – for mindfulness to be taught in every school in England, for an age limit for smartphone usage, and stricter controls on access to social media apps.
Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe had watched videos of the torture and murder of real people on the dark web – internet sites which are only accessible via an encrypted browser – in the weeks before they killed Brianna.
Ms Ghey told the BBC she could “empathise with Scarlett’s mother” as she had often felt hopeless about helping her own two teenage children manage their phone use, and deal with “this highly addictive device that they know how to use better than you do”.
“I understand how difficult it is being a parent to a teenager in this day and age – there are such pressures,” she said. “We don’t know how to protect our children from what’s going on in the online world. Sometimes the more you tell them not to do something, the more they will push back and do the opposite.”
Last week Ms Ghey met Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan to discuss her campaigns. She has support from the Labour MP for Warrington North, Charlotte Nicholls, and now hopes Scarlett’s mother will also agree to get involved with the initiatives – although those discussions are in the earliest stages.
“It would be working together in a very private way,” Ms Ghey said. “I’d like her to join me and do something positive. I think it would be good for her healing as well, because it’s helped me so much.”
Image source, Family handout/Cheshire Police
Brianna Ghey was stabbed 28 times in Culcheth Linear Park in Cheshire
Ms Ghey said she had been practising mindfulness for many years and credited it with helping her “in the most difficult time of my life”, adding: “I’ve got another daughter and I have to stay strong for her”.
She said she wished such techniques had been more widely known about when Brianna was a young child. It may not have saved her daughter’s life, she said through tears, but “at least she would have been happier”.
Brianna, who was transgender, struggled with her mental health, a situation exacerbated by accessing eating-disorder and self-harm content online.
Having now met the mother of one of her daughter’s killers, Ms Ghey said she “genuinely” does not feel anger, hate or rage towards Emma Jenkinson, or indeed towards Scarlett – although she has previously said she does not forgive her.
“I could take what’s happened and hide away at home, crippled with hate, wanting to get revenge,” Ms Ghey said, “or I can try to take a more positive approach, and actually make something good out of an absolutely horrific situation – and I choose to do the latter.
