The teenage murderers of Brianna Ghey can be named by the media when they are sentenced, a judge has ruled.

The identities of the two 16-year-olds, who were found guilty of murder by a jury following a four-week trial, can be made public on February 2 next year.

Brianna, 16, was stabbed with a hunting knife 28 times in the head, neck, chest and back in a “frenzied and ferocious” attack after being lured to Linear Park, Culcheth, a village near Warrington, Cheshire, on the afternoon of February 11 this year.

Mrs Justice Yip said at Manchester Crown Court there was a public interest in lifting the reporting restrictions but that the welfare of the defendants was likely to be detrimentally affected if the correct support was not in place.

“I believe the appropriate balance can be achieved by directing that the order may be lifted but placing a [delay] upon it until the date of sentencing,” she said.

Her killers both tried to blame each other for the attack but were convicted on Wednesday. 

Throughout the trial, media had been ordered not to name the defendants, identified only as girl X and boy Y - both now aged 16 but 15 at the time.

On Thursday, trial judge Mrs Justice Yip ruled an order banning identification be lifted after representations on behalf of the media made by the national news agency, PA Media and ITN. Brianna’s family supported the media application.

Lawyers for both defendants, who are currently being held in secure youth accommodation, opposed the media application, citing the possible ramifications on their welfare and consequences for their families, including death threats received by girl Y’s family.

Mrs Justice Yip lifted the banning order but imposed a stay on the order, until the defendants are sentenced on February 2 next year, when they can then be publicly named by the media. 

Both of the teenagers are facing a mandatory life sentence for murder.

Following the verdicts, police said that Brianna’s killers were obsessed with torture and killing and preyed on the anxieties of transgender teenager.

They spent weeks plotting the attack on Brianna, who was apprehensive and rarely went out alone, and posed as her friends.

The trial heard how Brianna, who was born a boy but was living, dressing and referring to herself as female, had thousands of followers on TikTok.

Her killers were intelligent, “high functioning” and came from normal backgrounds without trouble with the police before, the trial heard, but they had a “thirst for killing”.

Speaking outside court after the verdicts, Brianna’s mother Esther Ghey said: “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.

“Prior to the trial, I have had moments where I felt sorry for the defendants because they have ruined their own lives as well as ours.

“But now, knowing the true nature of the two and seeing neither display an ounce of remorse for what they have done to Brianna, I have lost any sympathy that I previously had for them, and I am glad that they will spend many years in prison and away from society.”