16-year-olds Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe have been named as the girl and boy who murdered teenager Brianna Ghey.

Jenkinson and Ratcliffe, both 15 at the time, made a “disturbing” plan of execution and later murdered Brianna, 16, in a “frenzied and ferocious” knife attack.

The vulnerable transgender schoolgirl Brianna was stabbed with a hunting knife 28 times in her head, neck, chest and back after being lured to Linear Park, Culcheth, a village near Warrington, Cheshire, on the afternoon of February 11 last year.

Jenkinson, reportedly Brianna’s school friend, was identified only as girl X during their trial last December at Manchester Crown Court.

Ratcliffe, from Leigh, had previously only been identified only as boy Y.

The media were initially banned from naming them during the four-week trial due to their adolescence.

However, after they were found guilty of murder by the jury, trial judge Mrs Justice Yip ruled the press could name the two at their sentencing hearing on Friday following an appeal on behalf of the media by the PA news agency.

Ratcliffe, diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and who is non-verbal, and Jenkinson, diagnosed with traits of autism and ADHD, both face mandatory life sentences.

Intelligent, “high functioning” and coming from normal backgrounds, the trial heard the pair had a fascination for violence, torture and murder and a “thirst for killing”.

According to the BBC, Jenkinson told her psychiatrist that Eddie Ratcliffe didn’t like Brianna because she was transgender - but that her motivation was because she considered Brianna a friend, and that meant she would leave her.

Jenkinson said she killed her so she would always be with her.

They were discussing Brianna’s murder for weeks, detailed in Jenkinson’s handwritten murder plan and phone messages found by detectives.

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Jurors were told it was 'difficult to fathom' the disturbing case

Jurors were told it was “difficult to fathom” how the two child defendants could carry out such a disturbing crime.

Messages on their phones detailed their fascination with murder, torture and death, plans to kill other children and an earlier attempt to poison Brianna with an overdose.

Detective Chief Superintendent Mike Evans, head of crime at Cheshire Police, said: “There are not many murders where you get from planning to execution almost documented, word for word.”

The gruesome murder of a transgender teenager in a public park prompted candlelit vigils worldwide protesting against perceived transphobia.

Detectives believe Brianna was killed because she was vulnerable and accessible, with her death not a hate crime but done for “enjoyment” and a “thirst for killing”.

Brianna's father says she was 'deprived of the life she wanted to live'

Peter Spooner, Brianna’s father, read his victim impact statement to the court: "As Brianna’s father, it’s impossible to put into words the murder of my child.

"I am accused of dead-naming her [calling someone who is transgender by their birth name] but most of my memories are with my son Brett - he was my baby, my only son, and his decision to transition was such a brave thing to do.

"I gained a daughter," Spooner continued. "We were forming a new relationship and these two murderers stole it from us both.

"She’s been deprived of the life she wanted to live," he added. "My life has been torn apart.

"No amount of time in prison will be enough for these monsters.

"The impact of Brianna’s death has been on our whole family.

He told the court he had been signed off from work and that he would "never come to terms with the loss of my daughter.

"Every day, something reminds me of Brianna and what she went through on that day," he said.

"I wish I wasn’t standing here reading this statement today, but if I wasn’t it would have been another father standing here... and I wouldn’t wish this on anyone."