Mother of Brianna Ghey named Cheshire Woman of the Year

Esther Ghey is the founder of Peace and Mind UK, a community interest company working to improve the mental health of young people and their families, which she set up following the tragic loss of her daughter Brianna in 2023.

16-year-old Brianna was stabbed after being lured to Linear Park, Culcheth, a village near Warrington, Cheshire. Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe, both 15 at the time, were jailed for life for the murder of the transgender teenager.

Esther received the award during a lunch at Chester Racecourse, which was attended by the Lord Mayor of Chester, Councillor Sherin Akhtar, and the broadcaster and former ITV Granada reports presenter Lucy Meacock, who was the guest speaker.

It is the 40th anniversary year of the awards and over 2,000 women from Wirral and Cheshire have been honoured for their personal, courage, community service or professional achievements.

Esther is the author of Under a Pink Sky, a memoir about love, loss and the power of forgiveness, and appeared in the ITV documentary Brianna and Mother's Story. Through her work, Esther continues to advocate for safer, more sympathetic spaces online in schools and in society.

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Through sponsorship, the awards events raised nearly £300,000 for children's charities, and this year all the funds raised will go to the NSPCC for the charity's work with children and families in Cheshire and Wirral.

Esther said she felt honoured to receive the award, saying: “I don't think there's anything better than when women come together to support each other.”