Desperate 999 call by dog walker who found ‘mutilated’ Brianna Ghey after stabbing

The desperate 999 call made by a dog walker who found the “mutilated” body of Brianna Ghey has been played at the trial of two youths accused of murdering the teenager.

The defendants, identified only as girl X and boy Y, are accused of murdering Brianna, a 16-year-old transgender girl who was stabbed 28 times in a “sustained and violent” attack in Culcheth Linear Park, near Warrington, Cheshire, on 11 February.

Both defendants, aged 15 at the time, now both 16, deny murder. They blame each other for the killing, the jury has heard. Neither defendant can be named because of their ages.

(PA)

On Thursday prosecutor Deanna Heer KC played the jury at Manchester Crown Court the 999 call, made at 3.13pm on 11 February by Kathryn Vize.

She was with her husband Andrew walking their two dogs when they saw a male and female on the path ahead of them and subsequently came across Brianna, dying, down a path through woods in the park, the court heard.

Ms Vize can be heard initially in shock, telling the call handler that “somebody has been attacked”, possibly stabbed, and “the attackers have run away”, later describing the suspects as a girl and a boy, both teenagers.

Ms Vize described Brianna as “heavily bleeding”, wearing a “shirt soaked in blood”, her face “covered in blood” and what appeared to be a “weeping blood wound on her back”. She said: “She’s got blood on her legs, she’s got blood on her back – she’s really hurt … We thought she was a dummy at first. She’s really badly hurt.”

When asked if the couple was able to give first aid to Brianna, Ms Vize is heard crying as she replies: “I don’t think there’s anything you can do for her. I really don’t think there is.” She screams, “I don’t know. It’s awful,” begging police to “please hurry up”.

(PA)

A distressed Ms Vize breathes heavily and repeats “Oh God” throughout the call, describing the incident as “like one of those nightmares”. She said: “I don’t know if she’s alive … I don’t want to touch her. It’s an absolute mess.”

In her police witness interview the following day, Ms Vize said she had been on a dog walk with her husband when she spotted a male bending down and over something up ahead, before he and a female, who had been standing to the male’s left, were seen “lolloping” away into a farmer’s field.

“The lollop was so suspicious. Their pace quickened up when they saw us,” she told officers in a film of the interview shown to the jury. She added that she did not see the male’s face but there were a few seconds when the girl stopped and “made eye contact with me”.

(REUTERS)

Ms Heer previously told the court: “Mrs Vize saw the male bend down, bending over, as if to tend to a dog, before both he and the female left the path and made their way into an adjacent field, breaking into a run as they did so.

“As they continued along the path, Mr and Mrs Vize discovered that it was not a dog that the male had been bending over, but the bloodied body of a young woman lying face down in the mud.”

Ms Vize told police she was “frightened” upon crouching down to look at Brianna. “There was a lot of blood,” she said. “I thought she had thick, white tights on, but she didn’t – it was her skin, she was so white. It was awful, it was awful.

“If somebody was alive, she wouldn’t be in that contorted position – she looked like a rag doll.”

She told police she then rang 999 to tell them there had been a serious attack. She added: “I can’t say she was dead for sure. I felt she was dead and I just felt very, very frightened and just thought if there’s any chance of help for this poor girl we need to get onto the police straight away.”

(CPS)

Ms Heer said Brianna was found having been stabbed 28 times, to the head and neck and to the back and chest, in a “sustained and violent assault”.

Ms Heer argued there was no dispute that the male and female seen running away from Brianna’s body were the two defendants.

Both of the accused have pleaded not guilty and have denied any involvement in Brianna’s killing.

During cross-examination, Ms Vize was asked about the moment she spotted the male and female where Brianna’s body was discovered. The defence asked: “You didn’t see any violence or aggression? … And you didn’t hear a commotion, or indeed any noise?” To both questions, she replied, “No.”

The trial continues.