Esther Ghey: Meeting With the Family of My Daughter's Killer

the mother of murdered teenager Briana ji has come face to face with the family of one of her daughter's killers in an obviously emotional meeting which she says has helped her grieve now since her daughter's death Esther ji has made it her mission to tighten the rules around mobile phone safety for children and teens an Esther is with us now um lovely to see you lovely to see always a pleasure to see you always difficult got the circumstances that we're talking about here for many people um and I know it's something you wanted meeting members of the family of of one of your daughter's Killers would be Unthinkable it would be too much why was it something you wanted and and how how did you approach it um I think for me it's something that I've wanted to do for a while um I saw how much um the parents were affected in in court and as saw like how how broken they were and um I think for me I wanted to make sure that she knew that I didn't blame her um and I wanted to find out how it was for her as a family as well and like if there were any difficulties like as as a parent as as I've struggled and many other parents are struggling as well um you saw yourselves as United mothers in a sense yeah I I think that basically we're both just two mothers that are trying to navigate something that's completely out of the ordinary and that no parent should have to deal with on either side um and I suppose we both suffered but I think that her suffering is continuing because her daughter's still there but she's she she's not with her and she's she's in prison and um like that must be so difficult because you will be torn as a parent whether you're going to you got that maternal Instinct but then also um having to live with what your child's done did how did she react um it was a very emotional meeting um but it was positive and I think that it was it was quite private and personal um but yeah like I say it it was an emotional meeting does it in a way give you some comfort as well no one can even imagine what you must go through losing a child and as you said at at the time of the court that you know Emma suon had lost a child as well you know but does this in a way give you some comfort being able to to meet the mother and and and sit down with her and and and share both of your feelings with yeah I I suppose actually in a way it does because it helps me to not hold on to any like harmful emotions like hate or resentment or and any of that kind of stuff because for me I I now I know her and I know she's just a normal woman and um really she didn't commit the crime she didn't do anything in order to like help what happened to Brianna um yeah and I suppose that in a way that that kind of does give me peace because she's just a normal woman who's also struggling incredible emotional strength to do that though you know and um and it must have been a gift for her to have you allow her to you know experience her grief um I I think that she was really Brave really to come forward and speak to me in the first place like that must have took such courage um and yeah I hope that it has provided her with some form of healing as well I'm sure it has and you're you're going to be sort of seeing probably more of because she's going to support your campaign as well isn't she so tell us tell us about that um so we discussed um the peace in mind campaign and the campaign um for mobile phone safety as well um and she said she supports both of the campaign and she agrees that something needs to change um whether she'll be supporting like on like public facing basis or whether it will be something very private again um I think it will probably be the the latter so you're you're keen and and it's it's people that that we've talked to that have that have that have experienced the sort of Injustice of the taking of a life of someone that they love in this way that you've had to go through um they're always talk about not blaming not giving into hate and and anger as a as a strong thing to to get them through but you're Channing that sort of the the the strength of your passions into changing so if you're avoiding blame who do you hold responsible where does the you know where should the focus be um I I suppose it's not a case of blaming anybody really and um yeah I don't want to sort of put that pressure on people but I think that there is an issue in society now where children are struggling with the mental health and and I think there's a large number of children that are on the waiting list for cams um when I saw that I can't remember the exact figures but when I did see it I thought what what like what is actually causing that what is the root cause um now Brianna struggled with her mental health and during the pandemic she was locked down and she was forced into this online world and um I do really feel that her being on her mobile phone um impacted her mental health massively and she was then accessing self harm sites and eating disorder sites which at the time I didn't know that she was doing because I thought that mobile phones were safe I didn't and and I do think that a lot of parents aren't aware of the dangers out there um so really I would like to speak to tech companies and um like mobile phone companies to see like what can we what can we actually do to make mobile phones safer for children I I just think it's really remark just listening to you now what you've been through to to to to to taking up this this action is incredible to the extent that you've even met with the Prime Minister Rishi sunak tell us how that went and what you discussed with him um yes so that was a very positive meeting as well and um he came into the meeting not just as the PM but as a parent as well um and I think that there is the acknowledgement that there there are issues um and I I think we're going to be having a a longer meeting with Michelle donin the secret of state of Technology um at some point and I think that the main thing now is to just keep these communications open to see what we can do so interesting you referred to a message that you got when were doing the court and you talked to Rishi sunak about that tell us about that because I find that really amazing and I think you get to the nub of the issue here really with that message tell us a bit about um so the message during the trial yes um yes so during the trial um I received a message on Facebook um basically saying that Brianna's death was my fault and the time of failure as a parent um because it was during the trial I've received other messages and comments before but I normally just block and delete and just ignore them um and I also have filters on Facebook certain things can't come through um but I um because the trial was on and I was see my an officer had reported it to her she tried to take it further um and the person that was investigating it um tried to get this person information which was then rejected because of the privacy laws um so I think that it it's um like the the Online safety atess is a great step in the right direction and I do think that that it is beneficial but it's a little bit ambiguous and also a little bit contradictory and like who is going to actually come out better the person whose privacy needs to be protected or the person who is the victim absolutely well it gives them a prot complex territory isn't it it's a complex territory which uh you feel we're all not fully equipped to deal with mhm and and so is there a specific thing that you would like to ask of the companies that that you know in charge of social media sites and are developing the technology around it um I think for social media companies they need to work with um ofcom and um make sure that they comply to everything that's in the Online safety act and I would like to see mobile phone companies take more responsibility for Children's Welfare um if if that's the technology is out there they they can flag certain words like concerning words and that can flag up to the parents and also to like restrict like the amount of time that children are online because that impacts mental health um and I think for me the next stage is to speak to mobile phone companies and just to see what is actually feasible and what can we do to protect children es it's just quite remarkable what you're doing in the honor of Brianna is just amazing how are you coping though I mean you you I know you're keeping yourself very busy doing all this and it must is incredible but how are you how are you personally um I I have some bad days um I think it it helps to focus on something so positive um obviously we miss Brian but um yeah it's for me it's now to keep Brianna's memory alive and to keep that Legacy going you know I think lot lots of people at home are watching I think we all have a bit of Brianna in our hearts at the moment because we've read about the story we know what she went through and what you're now going through and what you're doing I think you're doing absolutely remarkable stuff and you're very inspiring Esther and we just wish you well and I hope you all success with this um I want to hug you I want to hug you I'll do it afterwards I'll do it afterwards if you've been affected by any of the issues that we've been discussing um you can find advice and support at itv.com helplines and and you are doing so much for so many in her name Esther thank you e

Channel: Good Morning Britain

Views: 15,147

Keywords: good morning britain, breakfast show, news, morning news, gmb, good morning britain interview, itv, susanna reid, Talk Shows - Topic, brianna ghey, esther ghey, child x, child y, brianna ghey documentary, brianna ghey tiktok, girl x, brianna ghey trial, brianna ghey case, brianna ghey story, esther ghey interview, esther ghey good morning britain, esther ghey gmb

Id: 54te5CAPTXA

Length: 10min 9sec (609 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 22 2024