The killers of teenager Brianna Ghey will be named by the media if convicted, a judge has ruled.
Ms Justice Yip ordered that the press identify the teenagers responsible for the 'frenzied and savage' attack on 16-year-old Brianna, who was stabbed 28 times with a hunting knife in the head, neck, chest and back after going to Linear Park, Culcheth, was lured. village near Warrington, Cheshire, on the afternoon of February 11.
Her killers both tried to blame each other for the stabbing but were found guilty of murder by a jury at Manchester Crown Court on Wednesday after a four-week trial.
Throughout the trial, the media had been instructed not to name the suspects, identified only as girl X and boy Y - both now 16 but then 15 years old.
On Thursday, judge Mrs Justice Yip ruled that an identification ban order was lifted following protests on behalf of the media by the PA news agency and ITV. Brianna's family supported the media request.
Lawyers for both defendants, who are currently being held in secure youth accommodation, opposed the media request, citing the potential impact on their well-being and the impact on their families, including death threats received by Girl Y's family.
Madam Judge Yip lifted the ban order but imposed a stay until the defendants are sentenced on February 2 next year, at which time they can be named publicly by the media. Both face a mandatory life sentence for murder.
Ms Justice Yip ruled: "There is a strong public interest in full and unrestricted reporting of what is clearly an exceptional case."
She added: "The public will obviously want to know the identities of the young people responsible as they try to understand how children could do something so terrible.
"Continued restrictions hinder full and informed debate and limit full coverage of the matter."
In making her decision, the judge also said it was "inevitable" that they would eventually be named because the order banning their identification would have expired in 2025, when they turned 18.
The story continues
"Continuing the reporting restrictions until the defendants turn 18 would, in my view, represent a substantial and unreasonable restriction on freedom of the press," she ruled.
After the sentences were handed down yesterday, the transgender teenager's mother said she was "delighted" her daughter's killers will spend many years away from society after the two teenagers were found guilty of the "disturbing" murder.
Brianna's mother Esther Ghey said outside court: 'To now know how scared my usually fearless child must have been when she was alone in the park with someone she called her friend will haunt me forever.
"Prior to the trial, I had moments where I felt sorry for the defendants because they destroyed their own lives as well as ours.
But now that I know the true nature of the two and see that neither of them shows even an ounce of remorse for what they did to Brianna, I have lost any sympathy I previously had for them, and I'm glad they have many more years to come will spend in prison. prison and away from society."
Intelligent, 'high functioning' and from a normal background, the trial heard the pair had a fascination with violence, torture and murder - and a 'thirst for murder'.
Both had not previously come into contact with the police.
They discussed Brianna's murder for weeks, detailed in a handwritten murder plan and phone messages found by detectives.
A jury of seven men and five women convicted the two after a four-week trial at Manchester Crown Court after deliberating for four hours and forty minutes.
Judge Mrs Justice Yip told the defendants they faced life sentences, with sentencing to take place at a later date.
Brianna's father Peter Spooner said outside court: 'My heart bleeds for Brianna every day, and this will never go away - and the amount of guilt I have can be unbearable at times. But I will make sure her memory lives on in my thoughts and dreams."
Boy Y, diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and who is non-verbal, and girl X, who has features of autism and ADHD, were both in the dock when the sentences were handed down.
Jurors were told it was "difficult to fathom" how the two underage defendants could commit such a disturbing crime.
At the age of 14, Girl
She became interested in serial killers, taking notes on their methods and admitting she enjoyed "dark fantasies" about murder and torture, with the pair living in a secret world of twisted interests in murder and cruelty, the court heard.
They drew up a 'kill list' of four other young people they wanted to harm, until Brianna had the 'accident' of befriending Girl X, who became 'obsessed' with her.
Brianna had thousands of followers on TikTok, but in reality she was a withdrawn, shy and anxious teenager who struggled with depression and rarely left her home.
Girl
She got her wish after luring Brianna to the park on Saturday afternoon, believing she would be "hanging out" with friends.
Their dark fantasies were about to become reality, the court heard, as girl remembered his knife.
Around 3 p.m., Brianna, who was sitting on a bench, was suddenly attacked, possibly initially from behind, with a hunting knife with a 5-inch blade, which had been brought to the park by boy Y.
Each suspect blamed the other and it is not known which of the two wielded the knife.
Brianna was "stabbed and stabbed and stabbed" in a "frenzied and savage" attack.
After being tracked down and arrested, detectives found the murder weapon with Brianna's blood on the knife in boy Y's bedroom, along with heavily bloodstained clothing and sneakers.
At Girl X's house, they found a handwritten note detailing the murder plan and naming Brianna as the victim.
Messages on their phones describe their fascination with murder, torture and death, plans to kill other children and a previous attempt to poison Brianna with an overdose.
The gruesome murder of a transgender teen in a public park sparked candlelight vigils worldwide to protest perceived transphobia.
Detectives believe Brianna was killed because she was vulnerable and accessible, with her death not a hate crime but done out of "pleasure" and a "thirst for murder."
