The parents of the 2 teenagers who murdered Brianna Ghey

[Netball01]

I’ve been following the horrific murder of Brianna Ghey, and it goes without saying that her poor parents / family must be going through absolute hell.

But after the names of the 2 murderers being released today, it’s made me think how on earth do their parents ever come to terms with what their children haven done ?! As far as I’ve read so far, they are just normal people. I just don’t know how you could ever try and move on from this.

Not really

Parents buying a gun which kids are allowed to use seems to be legal and acceptable in America. Obviously to us it seems bonkers. They took him to a shooting range for family days out, again it’s legal and nobody batted an eyelid at the time. The parents said the gun was locked away and they thought he didn’t know where it was kept……no idea how true that is. But it seems harsh for a country to have such lax gun laws that kids can go to a shooting range and shoot and then the courts come down on the parents for legally having a gun.

Hold on.... so nobody knows for sure it's just a case of 'guessing' and trying to fit names and ages to the area he's from?

This is nightmarish, that something which presumably could have gone either way, ended up in two deaths.

No idea about the first point.

the second point the mum says the “don’t get caught “ text was about don’t get caught using your phone in class.

the third point from what I’ve read the school never asked the parents to take him home. The mum has said in court nobody inc the school seemed to think there was a serious issue. The mum says she wishes now she had but at the time it wasn’t mentioned 🤷‍♀️. I mean she may be lying but it’ll be interesting to see what the teachers say.

Exactly, people are so quick to excuse the parents but reality is most children and teens who commit this kind of serious crimes have very troubled backgrounds even if prima facie it all seems very normal and middle class

No. It is the father, his charge is referred to obliquely by the judge in the sentencing. There is also some suggestion that SJ will be affected when it comes out, again by the judge. God only knows what's going on there tbh.

Who is SJ?

Oh Girl X will be affected by it?

Like others have said the majority of the time the parents support their child regardless. When I was a teenager I was horrifically attacked by a boy.. he locked me in his bedroom and beat the shit out of me. His mum lied to the police, I have a son myself now and I couldn't imagine doing that.

So I had a best friend in secondary school and stayed with her at her house dozens of times. Her sibling ended up being a notorious serial killer. Not gonna lie her parents were the most normal hard working people you would ever want to meet.

What were the oblique references? I've read the report and haven't noticed anything.

I used to think it was probably some sort of failure on the parents' part: either terrible parenting or not getting a DC help they needed. Then one of my DCs' schoolmates was convicted as an accessory to murder.

He had been a lovely kid, and his mum always seemed great and was well-respected locally, but as an adolescent he had major MH problems and his life just went off a cliff.

It was just so bloody sad. We live in a fairly close community and he had a lot of local support, but it just wasn't enough.

I am much slower to judge now than I used to be.

Joanna Dennehy?

She came from a stable, loving home in a rural area, where her mum Kathy worked as a shop assistant and dad Kevin worked in security - however, Dennehy left home at the age of 16 and never returned.

If only it was as simplistic as some people make out. Parenting in some cases may contribute but not always. How do people explain one child who commits murder and yet all the old kids raised in that exact same house, exact same parents, never put a foot out of place.

I know a family (not overly well but reasonably), 2 brothers, only a year between them. Younger 1 is a fantastic person, fully law abiding citizen, no issues.

Older 1, got involved with drugs, convicted of one murder, suspect in another before being murdered himself.

Exact same childhood. His parents tried absolutely everything from around when he was 14 to try to change the road he was going down. Therapy, educational support, rehab, real love, tough love, consequences, everything. His poor mum nearly dying trying. The poor woman is in her 60s but would pass for 80s. She's had cancer & other health stresses too. Her husband is a shell of a man, barely even speaks anymore & clearly depressed.

The only difference between the two boys was sport & friends. One got heavily involved in sport & had a good set of grounded friends. The other drugs and friends like himself, constantly in trouble, long before any drugs came into play.

Not the parents, not the other siblings. There isn't always a neat little explanation like we would all prefer.

the second point the mum says the “don’t get caught “ text was about don’t get caught using your phone in class.

The teacher was concerned because he was using his phone to search for ammunition.

the third point from what I’ve read the school never asked the parents to take him home. The mum has said in court nobody inc the school seemed to think there was a serious issue. The mum says she wishes now she had but at the time it wasn’t mentioned 🤷‍♀️. I mean she may be lying but it’ll be interesting to see what the teachers say.

I guess it depends if the school were aware he had access to his very own gun.

You cannot blame the parents for all crimes committed by teens. It's not right

Who knows some may get over it some wont

but harsh as they maybe why should they get away with no one knowing you they are by not naming and yet Brianna’s parents are out there fir everyone to see them suffering

Re ER's father. Some reporting also refers to the father not attending court during the trial after a certain time. Time fits in with him being remanded.

So it all 'fits'

Dear hod I hope the vultures have got it right can you imagine if they have got it wrong....

@Atethehalloweenchocs mental health and neuroscience are complex, interrelated and not yet fully understood areas. Despite there being a way to go to fully understand brain science, I believe in science rather than the inherent good and evil. Even the words good and evil suggest a religious provenance. They also suggest absolutes - an evil person is unredeemable, destined for hell. It all seems a bit too, well antiquated and backwards. My main point on this thread is that it's not helpful to be reductionist in the face of complex situations and moral dilemmas such as the ones presented by this case. If you really do work in mental health I hope you don't categorise those in your care into good and evil as that would be very detrimental to their care and wellbeing.

What a horrible and pointless thing to say. I'm not squeaky clean. Are you? Is anyone?

10 is the age of criminal responsibility.

Personally I think it should be higher, 14/15/16 is quite common in many European countries.

I can't imagine how awful it must be to have a child that does something dreadful!

I'm sure it's true that in many cases their upbringing might contribute, but if someone is really mentally disturbed then there may be more at play.

Sound as though the boy's father at least did have history. But is that relevant?

It's not an excuse, but the boy appears to have had undiagnosed autism which may be a contributory factor on a social level. But the girl is clearly a very disturbed young lady with awful fantasies and thoughts. Her headteacher said nothing was obvious at school - perhaps nothing was flagged at home either? Maybe it is possible to be that disturbed without your family either knowing, or causing it??

The whole thing is just a massive tragedy all round, and my heart goes out to Brianna's family .

Just read a thread on websleuths and someone has asked the same question as you, whether it's definitely his father. Another poster has replied with links to newspaper reports with the name and age of ER's father which match with the article above. There is also another article link that names ER's street and it is the same as the man mentioned in the article above. So it could be a coincidence, but it seems extremely unlikely.