NORMAL ..QUIET BRIGHT..KILLERS

Ordinary lives of teens who turned to sadism

- PAUL BYRNE

TO the outside world, Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe appeared to be two ordinary 15-year-olds.

But behind closed doors, the warped pair secretly planned and then carried out the premeditated and savage killing of Brianna Ghey.

Now those who knew them are struggling to comprehend how two fresh-faced school children could commit such a barbaric act.

They met at Culcheth High School, in Cheshire, aged 11 and became friends despite living in different towns. Police found a notebook in Jenkinson's bedroom in which she described Ratcliffe as "trustworthy", "sociopath", "socially awkward" and added: "Very, very smart. Genius level."

Jenkinson, who has three older brothers, lived with her parents in their neat, rented, semi-detached home, just a 10-minute walk from where Brianna's body was found.

Her mother, Emma, 49, is a food, design and technology teacher at a high school.

Dad Brian, 51, is a plasterer and also teaches the trade to college students and prison inmates.

Manchester crown court heard the family has received death threats because of their daughter's horrendous crime.

Ratcliffe lived with his parents, Kyle and Alice, both 36, and his elder brother and younger sister, in a semi-detached former council house, five miles away in Leigh, a working-class town near Wigan in Greater Manchester.

His dad runs a nearby fitness gym, teaching kickboxing, while mum is a fitness and ski instructor.