Jurors have heard a harrowing 999 call made by the woman who discovered Brianna Ghey after she was stabbed 28 times in the trial of two teenagers accused of her murder.
Dogwalker Kathryn Vize was in a park in Culcheth, near Warrington, Cheshire on February 11 when she saw two teenagers stooping over what she initially thought was a dog, the court heard.
As the young people ran off, Ms Vize realised it was in fact an injured girl, who she said was ‘bleeding heavily’ and ‘very hurt’, adding she could describe ‘the attackers clearly because I was really suspicious of them’.
Two 16-year-olds, Girl X and Boy Y, who were both 15 at the time of the killing, are currently on trial over Brianna’s death. Both deny murdering her.
Jurors heard the frantic 999 call, made at 3.13pm, in court on Thursday in which Ms Vize told an operator: ‘Someone has been attacked’.
Brianna Ghey, 16, was found with 28 stab wounds in a park in Cheshire on February 11
Two 16-year-olds, Girl X and Boy Y, who were both 15 at the time of the killing, are currently on trial over Brianna’s death – both deny murder
Describing Brianna, Ms Vize said: ‘She’s very hurt. They probably need the air ambulance because of where she is. She’s halfway down some stairs, she’s bleeding heavily.’
She continued: ‘She’s bleeding, she’s got blood on her legs, she’s got blood on her back. She’s really hurt.
‘We thought it was a dummy at first. I don’t want to touch her either. I don’t know if she’s alive.’
In the call Ms Vize sounded distressed and her voice became incomprehensible at times as she asked why emergency services had not yet arrived.
She headed towards the park’s car park to direct emergency services while her husband waited with Brianna, jurors were told.
The call revealed the moment Ms Vize realised Brianna had been stabbed after spotting a wound on her back: ‘I think she’s been attacked. She may have been stabbed. There’s blood coming out of her back.’
She added Brianna was covered in so much blood she was afraid to ‘do anything to her’, adding: ‘I don’t think there’s anything you can do for her, I really don’t think there is.
‘It’s just so horrible, it’s awful. Please hurry.’
Ms Vize told the operator she had seen two ‘attackers running away’, adding she could provide a detailed description because they appeared ‘suspicious’.
She said: ‘The attackers have run towards Culcheth Linear Car Park.
‘I can describe them clearly to you because I was really suspicious of them.’
Brianna (pictured), 16, was found with fatal wounds on a path in Culcheth Linear Park, near her home in Warrington
Brianna was stabbed 28 times in February, resulting in wounds that penetrated her heart and jugular vein
Dogwalker Kathryn Vize was in a park in Culcheth, near Warrington, Cheshire, on February 11 when she saw two teenagers stooping over what she initially thought was a dog, the court heard
Ms Vize described ‘a girl and a boy, I’d say they’re late teens’ and said one was wearing a ‘red checked coat’.
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‘The other one had a hoodie, like a coat with a hoodie. The boy pulled his hood up so we couldn’t see his face.’
Later in a police interview, Ms Vize told police she initially believed Brianna to be a dog when approaching the scene with her own dog and husband.
She said the pair walked across the path and into the field, which she thought was in order to keep the dog she still assumed they had with them away from her dog.
‘Then they started running. It wasn’t a sprint, it wasn’t a walk.’
She described them ‘lolloping’, the girl – wearing a red duffle coat – slightly ahead.
‘They obviously saw us and thought they had to go because their pace quickened after they saw us. They were silent.
‘She made eye contact with me and it frightened me,’ she said.
The man – who appeared ‘grubby’ – had a ‘longish coat’ on, was ‘stooping’ and ‘held his hood with his right hand’.
‘My husband said: ‘They’ve left something – lazy scavengers’.
‘It looked like a big bag had been dumped.
‘I thought it was a prank […] she was so white, this girl.
The court heard that her husband tried to reassure Brianna, telling her: ‘It’s ok, we’re going to help you.’
Mrs Vize said the call handler told her to go to the car park half a mile away to guide emergency workers to the scene but then asked her to attempt CPR on Brianna.
‘I said ‘Don’t you understand, I’m not with her’. I said ‘I’m on my own, there’s murderers about’.’
Cross-examining Mrs Vize, Richard Littler KC, representing murder-accused Boy Y, said there was ‘no dispute’ that the male she saw in the park was his client.
Asked whether she saw a large knife, Mrs Vize replied: ‘No.’
‘You didn’t see any violence or any aggression?’ Mr Littler asked.
‘No,’ she answered.
Asked to confirm that the scene she witnessed was ‘silent’, she said: ‘Yes.’
Mrs Vize said that before leaving across the field, the girl stopped and stared at her for 8-10 seconds.
Asked by Richard Pratt KC, representing Girl X, whether she could be ‘mistaken’ about the teenager making eye contact with her, she replied: ‘Absolutely not.’
She added: ‘I feel I have got a good memory. I gave the best description I could give, it was hours later.’
Mrs Vize said she had made notes ‘immediately’ as she knew she had witnessed a ‘serious’ incident.
In a video interview with police shown to the court, Mrs Vize’s husband Andrew said he thought he heard Brianna ‘sigh’ when they stumbled upon her body.
‘I wasn’t sure if it was a breath or a sigh, I thought I saw her chest move,’ he told police in an interview shown to the jury.
Mr Vize said he told the girl – who he now knows to have been Brianna – ‘Don’t worry, we’re phoning the police, hang in there.’
But there were no further signs of life before a police officer arrived and started giving CPR, he added.
He said that before they came across her bloodied body, the two youths ran away in a ‘very furtive’ manner across a field of cabbages at a slow jog.
The court previously heard Brianna was found face down by a dog walker after the ‘sustained and violent assault’ which left her with ‘unsurvivable’ injuries, including stab wounds which penetrated her heart and jugular vein.
On Wednesday, a trial at Manchester Crown Court heard messages exchanged between Girl X and Boy Y in the run up to the stabbing, in which they discussed killing Brianna.
In messages sent on the evening of February 10, Girl X asked Boy Y which knife he would bring when they met Brianna.
He said: ‘The hunting knife I showed you in person as well as on the phone.’
Girl X asked if it would ‘definitely 100% kill her’ and boy Y replied: ‘Yes.’
She told him: ‘I’ve just put my favourite film on. I’m watching it for like the 9,000th time.’
In the messages read to the court, Girl X said the film was Sweeney Todd and told Boy Y he should watch it.
She added: ‘He kills people with one of the sharpest blades in the world.’
The court heard they planned to meet Brianna on January 28 but ‘last minute’ she was unable to come.
In earlier messages, on January 23, Girl X told Boy Y she knew a lot about US serial killer Richard Ramirez, known as The Night Stalker, adding: ‘I could talk about him for like two hours, including quotes and dates of stuff.’
In a statement which was read to the court, Brianna’s mother, Esther Ghey, said generally her daughter would stay in at weekends as she suffered from anxiety and did not go out on her own.
She added: ‘I know she would sometimes spend time with Girl X after school. Brianna was always home from school before I get home from work, so I don’t know how often they spent time together.’
The trial continues.