Brianna Ghey: crowds to gather for Leeds vigil
Vigils are taking place up and down the country, including Park Square in Leeds
Last updated 18th Feb 2023
A vigil will take place in Leeds later, in memory of 16 year-old Brianna Ghey.
Brianna, a transgender girl from Birchwood in Warrington, was found with fatal stab wounds on a path in Culcheth Linear Park at around 3.13pm on Saturday.
The memorial is being planned by Trans Leeds - they say the 16 year old "worked selflessly to support others in the trans community".
People are meeting in Park Square at 3 o'clock.
One of the organisers, Tom, said: "It's an opportunity for the whole community to get together and mourn the death of this young girl who has been taken from us. It will be an opportunity for all of us to come together, to support each other.
"I am feeling it on two fronts; as a trans person having lost young member of our community and also as a paretn. Just hearing about a child being murdered is absolutely horrific.
"I am really grateful for my community right now. We are all banding together. We just need to be with each other to talk about how we are feeling and the worries that we have. It is a shoulder to cry on. It is some support."
Tom said the event will also offer support to those struggling to come to terms with Brianna's death: "We are going to have a eulogy and there will be some speakers talking about the situation and how we can help each other.
"There will also be people in the crowd trained in peer support, so there will be one to one peer support there for people as well."
A candlelit vigil took place on Culcheth Village Green in Warrington, Cheshire, on Friday night nearby to where the attack took place, with hundreds gathering to pay their respects.
Members of the public also gathered outside the Hippodrome Theatre in Birmingham on Friday night, with other vigils taking place in Southampton, Nottingham and Edinburgh.
In a statement released via the police, Brianna's family said they had been "overwhelmed" by "support, positivity and compassion" from across the country.
A boy and a girl, both aged 15, have been charged with her murder and appeared via videolink at Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday where a trial date was fixed for July.
More memorials are planned to take place over the weekend.