Boy who tried to save his friend Holly Newton from murderous teen ex

The explosion of hate-filled violence which led to 15-year-old Holly Newton's death was over in a minute. But, for the teenage boy who raced to her side that Friday evening in January last year, the horrors of that terrible day more than a year and a half ago endure.

Holly's first blood-curdling scream, the horrific scene that met him when he turned into the alleyway where she'd gone to speak in private with her 16-year-old ex, Logan MacPhail.

MacPhail had been pestering Holly for days and, despite her previous pleas, wouldn't leave her alone. Tragically, the schoolgirl believed that by talking she could make him see reason.

'She was on the floor and he was on top of her,' says the teenager. Now aged 17, he was out with Holly in the Northumbrian market town of Hexham on the night she died and nearly lost his own life trying to stop MacPhail.

He still suffers flashbacks and has been prescribed medication to help him sleep.

'She was screaming: 'Get off me.' I thought he was punching her,' recalls the teenager. 'I didn't realise he had a knife until he stabbed me when I got him in a headlock and tried to drag him off her.'

Stabbed four times in the neck, shoulder, back and thigh, and still traumatised by what he witnessed and suffered, the Mail has agreed not to name the teenager, at the request of his mother.

His story, told exclusively to the Mail this week, paints a powerful picture of MacPhail's chilling state of mind.

More in a moment, of the events of that day. For, with hindsight, there is a terrible inevitability about the days and hours leading up to Holly's murder on January 27, 2023.

Most telling is that when Holly's mother, Micala Trussler, received the devastating call telling her that her eldest child had been stabbed, there was no question in her mind about who was responsible.

Jealous MacPhail had been obsessed with Holly throughout their 18-month, on-off relationship, always wanting to know where she was and who she was with.

When they split up, he bombarded her and her friends with texts and calls, stalked her and then, in a crescendo of rage, stabbed her to death.

'Everything was control and when he couldn't control, there was an issue,' Mrs Trussler, 35, told the BBC.

Convicted of murder and wounding with intent at a six-week trial which ended in August, reporting restrictions at the time meant that neither MacPhail's name nor the fact he was Holly's ex- boyfriend could be reported.

A judge at Newcastle Crown Court this week ruled that the evil teenager, who will turn 18 in a

couple of months, could be identified, acknowledging the relationship between the pair was 'a key factor in the case'.

'There is great public concern about murders by young people who have carried knives in public places and about violence to women,' said Mr Justice Hilliard.

But statutory guidelines dictate that Holly was too young at the time she was killed to be classed as a victim of domestic violence.

Instead, her death will now be categorised by government statisticians as a knife crime. That has heaped further misery on her mother who believes the 'knife crime' label has connotations of gang violence and, in Holly's case, reduces the focus to the weapon used, not the slow build-up of anger which carried all the hallmarks of domestic abuse.

'The only connection it's got is the fact he's killed her with a knife,' Mrs Trussler said. 'But, in all honesty, I think he would have killed her with anything, just so she couldn't be with anyone else because it was all about control, obsession and passion.'

Holly met MacPhail in 2020 when both were members of Durham Army Cadet Force's Consett detachment where Holly's stepfather Lee was a leader.

They became friends and, despite living nearly 40 miles apart – MacPhail in Birtley in Gateshead, and Holly in Haltwhistle, Northumberland – started going out.

Holly, a popular pupil at Queen Elizabeth High School in Hexham, loved sport and was a talented dancer who competed locally. According to her mother, she was 'a funny and happy teenager who'd do anything for anyone'.

MacPhail, meanwhile, has autism and a low IQ and attended a school for children with education needs. He also had a troubled childhood.

In court, he said he started self-harming while still at primary school and carried a knife in a bag of toys.

According to Holly's mother: 'He didn't like her having other friends. He didn't like her going out without him.

'He needed to know where she was all the time. He was ringing her so many times throughout the day. She wanted to have friends over and he didn't agree with that.'

Holly had tried to end the relationship several times but MacPhail would threaten to kill himself and she'd take him back out of guilt. Experts say such behaviour is typical within abusive relationships.

When she ended things with MacPhail for good on January 21, he refused to accept her decision and, over the six days that followed, sent a stream of messages both to Holly and one of her friends, asking if she was seeing other boys.

Phone messages later retrieved by police showed that on January 26 last year, the night before the fatal attack, MacPhail messaged Holly, asking her to meet him in a park near her home. She replied, refusing to meet him in Haltwhistle.

At around 8pm, he turned up at her home anyway, claiming he wanted to get back his PlayStation 3. By then, Holly had blocked his number.

When her mother refused to let him in, MacPhail texted one of Holly's siblings, asking them to help him 'sneak in'. Mrs Trussler now believes that if he'd gained entry, 'we could have been looking at maybe more than one murder'.

After hanging around the house until 1am, MacPhail was picked up by police when his mother reported him missing.

Before setting off for school the following day, Friday January 27, Holly was extremely nervous about the possibility of bumping into MacPhail.

In one message sent to a friend at 8.15am, she wrote: 'So he's basically stalking me at this point. He's gonna follow me until I talk to him.'

Mrs Trussler was so concerned that she arranged with the school for Holly not to leave if MacPhail was hanging around.

At 9.40am, she contacted police and made an appointment for that afternoon to go with Holly to speak to officers about MacPhail's disturbing behaviour. But Holly, who had arranged to go out with friends after school, persuaded her mother to push back the appointment to the evening. It was, said Mrs Trussler this week, 'the biggest mistake of my life'.

MacPhail left his own school early at 1.30pm, telling teachers he was feeling tired, and travelled by bus to Hexham. He lied to one of Holly's friends that he was in Newcastle, which put Holly at ease about leaving her own school at the end of the day.

Dressed in black, wearing a baseball cap and mask, he followed Holly and two of her friends for 45 minutes without being seen.

At around 4.45pm, one of Holly's friends went home, leaving Holly and her other friend to walk together, unaware they were being followed. They stopped by Pizza Pizza on Priestpopple, a busy thoroughfare in Hexham. While Holly's friend ordered takeaway food, Holly waited at the bus stop. CCTV images show MacPhail walking up to her moments later.

'I saw her talking to someone and came out of the shop,' the teenage boy recalls. 'She hadn't told me about what she was going through with Logan.'

He spoke to MacPhail for several minutes. 'He was very calm, completely normal. He said he wanted to give Holly back some of her things. I didn't see what was coming at all. He seemed ok.'

For several minutes, the trio of teenagers talked. Holly, it was said in court, was 'not at all happy' to see her ex but agreed to speak to him in private, down an alleyway, unaware he was carrying a knife.

Moments later, her friend heard her screams and ran into the alley.

'Everything happened so fast,' he says. 'Holly was screaming at him to get off her. I tried to pull him off. I didn't even realise I'd been stabbed in the neck and leg until I turned to get help and then he stabbed me twice more in the shoulder and back.'

Passers-by and staff from the pizza shop attempted to help, but by the time MacPhail was dragged away from Holly, he had stabbed and slashed her 36 times. One of the blows was so powerful that the knife snapped.

Holly was unresponsive by the time she was taken by ambulance to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle. Her friend was treated for his wounds as medics tried to save her on the other side of the resuscitation room. He was taken for emergency surgery just before they pronounced Holly was dead.

'You can't imagine what a terrible scene that was,' says his mother. 'It was chaos and panic. Just devastating.'

When interviewed by police, MacPhail insisted he hadn't taken the knife to hurt Holly that day and wanted only to kill himself.

While accepting he was responsible for Holly's death, he denied murder, claiming his mind 'went blank' when he attacked her.

This attempt to worm his way out of a more serious conviction meant that Holly's devastated parents, and the friend who'd been attacked, were forced to endure the agony of a full-blown six-week trial. A two-day sentencing hearing will begin on October 31.

The impact of Holly's death goes on. Her friend, who failed his GCSEs just months after her murder, has since returned to college. He is still undergoing treatment for damaged tendons in his shoulder, struggles to sleep and says he will for ever wonder if he could have done more to save Holly.

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Micala and Lee Trussler hope Holly's story will educate others about domestic abuse in young relationships. Mrs Trussler said: 'We need to understand that young people are having relationships a lot younger. You can almost guarantee that Holly is not the only one in that situation.

'We spend a lot of time in schools talking about abuse at home, being abused by your parent or by other family members, but there's not really any discussion of being abused by a partner, when you are in a relationship yourself.'

She added: 'Certain levels of abuse are taken more seriously than others, like the controlling side of things. Holly was never physically abused but she was abused in other forms.'

The charity Women's Aid says that, according to the Office of National Statistics, a shocking one in four girls will have experienced domestic abuse before they are 16.

'While domestic abuse can be associated with adult relationships, it is a prevalent issue in the romantic relationships of young people too,' says Sophie Francis-Cansfield, Women's Aid head of policy.

Holly's mother and stepfather say they didn't notice how 'toxic' the relationship was until their daughter's friends pointed it out.

Mrs Trussler says: 'It was a bit of a shock to Holly. I don't think she understood it was happening to her until the last few days.'

Women's Aid has set up a 'LoveRespect' website, specifically aimed at 14-25 years olds to learn about healthy relationships.

Francis-Cansfield added: 'Many forms of abuse, such as stalking or controlling behaviour will be experienced without the young person even knowing.

'Sharing locations, constantly checking in and other red flags can often be romanticised, with younger people thinking they are a sign of trust or care, instead of signs of abuse.'