Justice Amanda Yip lifted the reporting restrictions on naming the killers of 16-year-old Brianna Ghey. They were identified at Manchester Crown Court as Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe.
The horrific murder shocked the nation. Ghey was stabbed with a hunting knife 28 times in her head, neck, chest and back in broad daylight after being lured to a park in the town of Warrington on Feb. 11, 2023.
Yip handed Ratcliffe and Jenkinson a mandatory life sentence, and ordered them to serve a minimum term of 20 and 22 years, respectively, before they could be eligible for parole. If they had been adults — over the age of 18 — they would have faced much longer minimum terms. They will be transferred to adult prisons when they turn 18. Neither showed no visible reaction on being sentenced.
Minimum of only 20 years though before eligible for parole
They’re minors. In the UK and most of the developed world, you cannot give life without parole to a minor.
Idk I think people who murder a girl in cold blood shouldn’t ever be allowed to participate in society, but that’s just me.
They only get out on parole if the board (or whatever the UK’s equivalent is) believes they have learned a lesson and are safe to reenter society. If not then they stay until the next board meeting. I have a hard time imagining they would get out after 20 years for murder without the board being pretty damn sure they are no longer a danger to society.
As gross and heinous as these crimes are, I will never favor life-without-parole or the death penalty for minors.
if rehabilitation is possible, there is no real benefit to society to just keep folks in prison indefinitely, and in fact refusing to accept change for the better disincentivises folks from doing so
Not all crimes can be rehabilitated. I consider a hate based murder to be one of them.
Any evidence to back that up?
thats awesome
who are you
I am me
And that’s unfortunate. This planet is already too crowded. Why spend resources on scum like this? Lock them away forever.
Worth noting that it costs a lot of state resources to lock them away forever.
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And the previous commenter suggested locking them away forever instead of wasting resources on them.
20 years is a looooong time when you’re 16. They’ve lost their entire young adulthood and then some
They will be fine. Terf Island will consider them political prisoners.
They’ll be on licence for the rest of their lives following that though. The minimum term on a life sentence is just the custodial part.
on licence. right, what’s that, then? will they have any other sort of restrictions once they get out at minimum 36?
The 20 years is the minimum time they’ll do in prison.
After the 20 years they’ll be eligible for parole. If, and only if, the board decides that it’s safe for them to be released will they do so.
If they are released they will be in license. This means they are subject to prison recall without trial should they pose any risk to the public. The license may also impose additional restrictions such as regular therapy appointments, restrictions on leaving the country etc. These conditions will be imposed for life. Breaking any of these restrictions would also result in a recall to prison.
If the parole board decides that it’s not safe to release them, then they’ll remain in prison. They may very well remain in prison for their entire life.
heh. TIL. thanks for that!
That’s standard in the UK. Our justice system views rehabilitation as the ultimate goal, not punishment. They will serve this as a minimum, but will likely never see life outside of a cell based on their reaction to being sentenced.
Even after parole, their life will forever be scrutinised by law enforcement and medical examiners to determine their mental state. Anything that doesn’t scream “normal member of society” puts them back in jail.
Yeah I agree with rehabilitation for 99% of crimes and laud the European models as generally better than the American one.