Girl discussed killing Brianna Ghey with overdose, court hears

A 16-year-old girl accused of murdering the teenager Brianna Ghey discussed killing her with a spiked McDonald's milkshake and said she had been researching an American serial killer known as the "night stalker", a court has heard.

- Helen Pidd

The girl, referred to as X to protect her identity, told her co-defendant, a 16-year-old boy known as Y, that she could talk about Richard Ramirez for "like two hours", a jury heard.

The night before Brianna was stabbed to death in a Warrington park, X said she was watching her favourite film, Sweeney Todd, for "like the 9,000th time".

In messages read to the court, she urged Y to watch it, saying: "He kills people with one of the sharpest blades in the world." The jury was played footage of Brianna leaving her house on the day she was murdered as she went to meet her alleged killers.

The teenagers deny murdering Brianna, who was transgender, in Linear Park in Culcheth, near Warrington, on 11 February this year.