The mother of teenager Brianna Ghey has met the family of the girl who murdered her child.
Esther Ghey met the mother and uncle of Scarlett Jenkinson, who planned the “sadistic” killing and lured Brianna, 16, to a park where she was stabbed 28 times with a hunting knife.
Jenkinson and her accomplice, Eddie Ratcliffe, both aged 15 at the time, were jailed last month for life and ordered to serve 22 years and 20 years respectively for the “exceptionally brutal” murder of the trans teenager in Linear Park, Culcheth, Cheshire, on February 11 last year.
Esther Ghey said the private meeting took place last week in her hometown of Warrington, and she hoped the two mothers may work together on the Peace in Mind community interest company she has launched as Brianna’s legacy.
Ms Ghey said: “Both of us are mothers who are trying to navigate something nobody should ever have gone through.
“It was emotional. Both Scarlett’s mum and uncle are very nice people, just normal people.
“We spoke about very personal things, and she was very open with me and she was so respectful as well.
“I think her coming to see me shows a great deal of bravery on her part as well.
“And yes, it was a very emotional meeting but I’m so glad I did that and appreciate them for giving me that opportunity as well.
“For me it was important to understand how they were as a family, and it was important for me to also understand what has she been going through.
Ms Ghey said she does not feel any hate or resentment towards Jenkinson or her family.
“I know that all of these emotions, and feelings of hate, is only going to impact me.
“If I feel hate, I could either take what’s happened and hide away at home, actually crippled with hate and wanting to get revenge and all of that kind of stuff.
“Or I can try to take a more positive approach and actually make something good out of a horrible, I feel like horrible is too small a word, out of a horrific situation.
“And I choose to do the later. I don’t want to be a victim, I don’t want to be, I don’t want this to impact the rest of my life and stop me from progressing and to stop me being productive and hopefully making a change in society as well.”
Mindfulness and the dangers of mobile phones for children were discussed during the meeting, two issues on which Ms Ghey is now campaigning.
Ms Ghey recently met Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology Michelle Donelan, to discuss her campaigns, having met Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer earlier in the month.
Ms Ghey added: “I’ve been overwhelmed by the support the Peace in Mind campaign has received.
“So to continue this legacy for Brianna, I wanted to create a community interest company to continue its good work.
“Our two focuses remain around mindfulness in schools, where we will continue to work with Mindfulness in Schools Project (MiSP) to train more teachers across the country, and to continue our campaign for better safeguarding around social media and mobile phones.”
For more information visit peaceandminduk.org.