Brianna Ghey's mother details haunting first meeting with killer's parent after horrific murder

Brianna Ghey's mother Esther has opened up about meeting the mother of her daughter's killer Scarlett Jenkinson a new documentary about the teenager's life. The film explores the events leading up to Brianna's death, when the 16-year-old was murdered by 15-year-old students Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe in a hate-fuelled attack two years ago.

Speaking about seeing Jenkinson and Ratcliffe's mother in court during their trial for Brianna' murder, Esther said in the documentary that she had "sympathy" for them. "When I was in court, I saw how broken both Scarlett and Eddie’s mothers were," she said.

"I know that people blame the parents when a teenager does something but they have their own minds. I can’t imagine that any parent would ever go out of their way to make their child become what Scarlett and Eddie are. I have a lot of sympathy for the parents."

She added that she started meeting up with Jenkinson's mother Emma on a regular basis to speak about Brianna. "The initial meeting with Scarlett’s mum was really emotional. It wasn’t a difficult meeting, I think it was just something we both really wanted," she said.

"Since that meeting, I think I speak to her every week. I do think it’s been healing, not only for me but for Emma as well.”

Speaking ahead of the documentary airing, Esther revealed that her relationship with Brianna became "strained" before her murder as she tried to protect her from the dangers on the internet. "Mine and Brianna’s relationship was really quite strained towards the end because I was trying to look after her, I was trying to make sure that she was okay," she said.

"The more I tried to protect her, the more she pushed me away so I hope that bringing mindfulness into families might improve relationships and no parent will be in the same situation as I was with Brianna."

In the documentary, Esther opened up about the final text she sent to her daughter before her murder - and how she'll never know if she read it. "She sent me a picture of her feet on the bus and said that she felt really anxious," Esther said in the documentary. "I messaged back something like, ‘That’s well good,’ because she’d never been on a bus by herself."

"I remember thinking, 'That’s such a good step in the right direction. Maybe she’s going to be fine.'." Breaking down, Esther added, "I was hoping that Brianna would go out and have a nice time re-entering society. I responded to say how good it was. I don’t know whether she ever saw how proud I was of her."

Brianna Ghey: A Mother's Story airs tonight at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX.

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