Sadistic teens found guilty of stabbing trans girl to death. They’re going away for a long time.

A U.K. jury has unanimously found two 16-year-olds guilty of lethally stabbing 16-year-old transgender girl and influencer Brianna Ghey. The jury took four and a half hours to reach its decision. While both murderers will receive mandatory life sentences, an upcoming hearing will determine the minimum number of years they must serve.

The pair, whose names were publicly withheld due to being minors, both blamed one another for stabbing Ghey 28 times during broad daylight in a public park on February 11. The two attackers had allegedly fantasized about torturing and killing others and had even a written “kill list” of four other children they wanted to murder.

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Jurors heard about the pair swapping “thousands” of “violent and dark messages” via text. Jurors also saw a handwritten note from the female attacker detailing her plan to stab Ghey in her back and stomach while Ghey walked in a tunnel in Warrington’s Culcheth Linear Park. A couple walking their dog disturbed the attack, causing the assailants to flee, though security cameras recorded them both appearing “calm” on their way home, Attitude reported.

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The pair reportedly planned the attack for weeks before it occurred. Their text messages referred to Ghey as “prey” and “it,” The Guardian noted. One message said, “I want to see if it will scream like a man or a girl.” Another handwritten note from the male attacker discussed killing Ghey as follows: “alcohol with sleeping pills, slit throat, dismember body, place pieces in bin bags, bury bags seven feet underground.”

The female attacker mentioned how she became obsessed with murder at age 14, watching videos of killings, torture, and serial murderers online. Her accomplice called her “not a normal person,” said she referred to herself as a Satanist, and liked to “joke about like dead babies and stuff.”

She befriended Ghey months before the murder and sent Ghey text messages after her murder that said, “Girl, is everything OK? Some teenage girl got killed in Linear Park, it’s on [the] news everywhere. And why did you ditch us for some random man from Manchester. Like wtf. That is so f**ked up.” Prosecutors say the messages were meant to establish a defense.

While the female murderer blamed the male for committing the murder, the male told jurors that he was urinating against a tree when his female cohort committed the murder. However, police discovered Ghey’s blood on his clothes and a knife found in his bedroom.

After hearing the guilty verdict, Ghey’s mother, Esther Ghey, told reporters outside of the courtroom that she wanted people to give “empathy and compassion” to the killers’ families since they will lose their children and must live knowing what their kids have done. She also said she initially felt sympathy for the killers since they had ruined their lives, along with her daughter’s.

“But, now knowing the true nature and seeing the remorse for what they have done to Brianna, I have lost all sympathy that I made previously hard for them,” she said. “I’m glad that they will spend many years in prison and away from society.”

“To now know how scared my usually fearless child must have been when she was alone in the park with someone that she called her friend will haunt me forever,” she continued. “Brianna was larger than life. She was funny, witty, and fearless. We miss Brianna so much and our house feels empty without her laughter.”

In response to the verdict, the regional LGBTQ+ advocacy group Manchester Pride issued a statement that said, “Our hearts go out to Brianna’s family and friends during this incredibly sad time… [Brianna Ghey] deserved a future where trans individuals live securely, and with respect. But instead, her life was devastatingly cut short.”

“Today serves as a somber reminder to safeguard trans lives – our beautiful community should never be harmed or doubted but protected and loved,” their statement concluded.