On 11 February 2023, 16-year-old Brianna Ghey left home to meet her friend in a park local to her home in Warrington, Cheshire. Her mother, Esther, was relieved to see her go – a positive step after a difficult and increasingly isolated few years. What Esther didn’t know that day was that Brianna was being lured to the park where she would be tragically murdered.

There was at once an international outpouring of anguish and outrage for a young life brutally snatched away and a mother’s worst nightmare come true. Amidst global displays of support, the usually shy and private Esther began to reflect on how she could channel her own personal grief into campaigning to help others and to create a lasting legacy for her child.

This is the story of Brianna’s death, but it is also the story of her life and of a mother who had to find a way to survive without her. It is a story of transforming unimaginable tragedy into change, of the power of empathy, and a call for understanding and unity in the face of the threats our young people face in an increasingly unchecked digital world.