Kyle Ratcliffe jailed for performing sex acts on self while driving

Kyle Ratcliffe performed sex acts on himself on two consecutive days while driving in his Maserati past the same teenage girls at a bus stop.

The 36-year-old also covertly recorded a teenage girl in a state of undress at a water park – all for his own ‘sexual gratification’.

He is the father of Eddie Ratcliffe – the 16-year-old jailed for life with a minimum of 20 years for the brutal murder of Birchwood teen Brianna in Culcheth Linear Park.

The 16-year-old transgender victim was stabbed in February last year, with Eddie and co-killer Scarlett Jenkinson convicted by a jury in December and locked up earlier this month.

Reporting restrictions were in place preventing the link between him and his son from being published, in the event that a trial would be needed.

They were lifted today following his guilty pleas, however, reporting restrictions remain ensuring the victims of the exposure and photo-taking charge remain anonymous.

Kyle Ratcliffe appeared before Manchester Crown Court this morning, Thursday, via video link from HM Prison Forest Bank in Salford, where he entered guilty pleas to two counts of exposure and one of taking an indecent image of a child, with the case proceeding to sentence.

Details of his offending were outlined by Michelle Brown, prosecuting, who explained that the exposure offences were committed in November last year – shortly before his son’s murder trial was due to start.

On a midweek day, before 8am, Ratcliffe was driving his Maserati on a road in Salford when he spotted two girls in their mid-teens waiting alone at a bus stop.

In stop-start traffic – and while behind a school bus – one of the girls reported seeing the defendant’s hand ‘moving up and down’ in his genital area, with his trousers ‘down past his knees’.

She was ‘shocked and in disbelief’ and told the other girl what she had seen. They ‘laughed it off’, but the same thing happened the next day.

The girls reported Ratcliffe, who appeared in a ‘confused and frantic state’ performing a sex act on himself while in his car driving past the bus stop.

The court heard how the defendant ‘tried to hide himself’, but the girls took a photo of his car registration plate.

Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe were jailed for life for the murder of Brianna Ghey

They searched online if what they had saw constituted an offence, told their families and later told the police after realising the severity of what Ratcliffe had done.

They said that the offences had ‘violated their privacy’, while one of their mothers said she was ‘gobsmacked, very angry and on edge for her daughter’s safety’.

Ratcliffe was arrested on December 15 and interviewed the next day and told officers what judge John Potter described as a ‘pack of lies’ – that he often drives with his trousers down as a medical condition means he may need to go to the toilet in a hurry, which is why he touched his penis.

His black Samsung mobile phone was seized during the investigation, on which an examiner found a two minute and 10 second video of taken last summer.

The court heard he covertly filmed a pre-pubescent child, who was unaware of being on camera, in a state of undress, with nudity captured on the video.

The footage had been moved to a folder in Ratcliffe’s phone entitled ‘stuff’, which Judge Potter remarked was ‘no doubt so that he could view it later repeatedly’.

Examiners were able to conclude that this was taken by Ratcliffe at Wild Shore water park in Delamere.

The phone’s search history also revealed searches for pornography between September and December last year, with references to children of school age.

Terms included ‘students’ and ‘innocent teen’, as well as exposure-related terms such as ‘public d**k flash on train’.

On January 16, Ratcliffe was again arrested over the video find and told officers that he had been sent the video on Snapchat.

Ms Brown revealed to the court that the defendant does have previous for similar offending.

In 2008, he performed a sex act on himself after seeing a girl in her mid-teens in the street and was spotted by members of the public, for which he received a suspended sentence.

Then in 2012, he was convicted after a trial and handed a three-year community order for performing another sex act on himself while stopped at a red traffic light.

Mark Friend, defending, said that his client’s ‘most prominent mitigation’ was his guilty pleas’, but accepted that his previous convictions ‘do not help him whatsoever’.

“It is impossible to divorce this defendant’s offending to that which was occurring in his family unit,” he said.

Kyle Ratcliffe was jailed at Manchester Crown Court

“This is not to invoke sympathy for him. He is evidently the author of his own misfortune, and he bears responsibility for the offences he committed.”

He continued: “His family’s life now is but a shadow of that which they enjoyed prior to February 2023. The defendant accepts unequivocally that he played his own part in that misery.

“He has left his wife and other two children dealing with these burdens alone as a consequence of his incarceration – a burden that weighs very heavy on his shoulders.”

Mr Friend said that the defendant must undertake a journey, starting with his admissions of guilt, and he has made enquiries about courses and programmes while in custody.

He urged Judge Potter to suspend the sentence of imprisonment, but this call was rejected as he said: “The offences on the indictment, coupled with your previous convictions, make it quite clear that you have a sexual attraction towards female children and teenagers whom you objectify for purposes of your own sexual gratification.

“This has the potential to cause very serious harm and portrays you, in my judgment, as currently presenting a significant risk to such individuals.

“When you were spoken to by police and interviewed regarding the exposure incidents, you told them a pack of lies or said nothing at all.

“This is not the first time in your life that you have harmed others in this way. It is not lost on me that on those other two occasions you received alternatives to immediate custody.

“That has clearly not deterred you from offending again in a similar nature, albeit some time later.”

Concluding, he added: “I have come to the view that I should not suspend the sentence in this case,” stating that his son’s role in murdering Brianna can provide ‘no excuses whatsoever’ for his behaviour.

“The truth is you made a deliberate decision to behave in this abusive, risk-taking way creating the potential of harm to others.”

Ratcliffe, of Imperial Drive, was sentenced to 15 months immediate imprisonment, of which he will serve half, with his time on remand counting towards his sentence

He must also sign the sex offender register for the next 10 years, abide by the terms of a sexual harm prevention order for the next five years, and is barred from seeking employment working with or supervising children.

In addition, the court approved an order for the forfeiture of Ratcliffe’s mobile phone.