Tragic Holly Newton's mum calls for support for underage 'domestic abuse' victims as daughter murdered aged 15
by Sophie Doughty · ChronicleLiveIt was a teenage romance that ended in murder.
Holly Newton and Logan MacPhail split up after 18 months together, like many other young couple's do. But tragically MacPhail's reaction to the break-up proved that teenagers are not immune to the devastating impact of domestic violence.
The now 17-year-old stabbed Holly to death in an alleyway in January 2023 after their relationship came to an end. The detective who led the investigation into Holly's death said the age of the victim and the perpetrator made this case different from many other domestic violence murders.
And Det Sgt Darren Davies said MacPhail's reaction to his break-up had devastated many lives.
"I think any murder that has a domestic or relationship element to it is always shocking," he said. "People can be in a relationship with who they want. But some people just can't quite deal with it.
"He's a boy that's ruined his own life, but also many, many other lives through no reason other than a girl not wanting to go out with him anymore. That is essentially what it boils down to. He's going to have to try and deal with it now. Where he's been is probably the right place for him. Hopefully should he ever get out he will come out a better person than who he is now.
"For someone of his age to have that kind of reaction to the end of a relationship is unusual. Most domestic murders tend to involve adults."
Holly, 15, died after MacPhail repeatedly stabbed her in Hexham. Newcastle Crown Court heard how in the run-up to the murder MacPhail tried to get his ex to meet him saying he wanted to get some possessions back. Then on Friday January 27, 2023, he left his Gateshead school early and caught a bus to Hexham where Holly, from Haltwhistle, went to school.
CCTV showed him following Holly and her friends for a period of around 45 minutes before eventually approaching her outside a pizza shop.
Holly, unaware that Logan was carrying a knife, agreed to speak to him in an alleyway next to the takeaway, which is where MacPhail launched his frenzied attack. A boy also suffered knife injuries when he went to Holly's aid. Passers-by and people from the shop also went to stop MacPhail, who was pulled off Holly, who was from Haltwhistle while still stabbing her.
When police arrived the killer was being held in a bus stop by members of the public. And while being questioned MacPhail attempted to blame Holly for his actions
"The circumstances of this one were different from the outset with it being a 15-year-old girl and a boy she was linked with.," said Det Sgt Davies. "He did talk about Holly in the interview. Similar to his evidence in the trial. He said she could be horrible to him at times. It's not uncommon for people in his position to try apportion blame elsewhere."
And the detective, who has a son a similar age to Holly, said it was important that families understand how intense of young people's relationships can now be.
"Young people are so much more involved in each others lives now and their relationships are so much more intense," he said. "It's something that people need to be aware of. It is very different now. Every case has its difficulties and challenges and tragically someone has lost their life. Holly should be at college and looking to her future but she's not."
The Government defines domestic abuse as abusive behaviour towards another where the people involved are aged 16 or over and have been personally connected to one another.
But Holly's mum, Micala Trussler says the definition, and attitudes, need to change to help people below the age of 16 recognise if they are in an abusive relationship and access support.
"This is domestic abuse case, but because Holly was 15 we are not allowed to call it that," she said. "It just goes down as knife crime. It's something that people need to hear. I think they need to realise that under 16s can be subjected to this sort of behaviour, and something needs to change there. I think young people need access to domestic abuse services, if they feel they need it."
In a victim impact statement read out in court, Micala said: "Holly’s case has been labelled as ‘knife crime’ but making sure that people know the truth about her case is one of my goals. I firmly believe that teenagers should be taught about healthy relationships in schools and domestic abuse services offered at a younger age, maybe then Holly would have recognised the red flags earlier and had access to other services that could have helped her. I don’t want Holly to become another statistic, there is so much media coverage of how many women are killed each year by men, it almost normalises it for young men like Logan. Things have got to change.
"We will never know Holly as an adult, this year she should have been collecting her GCSE results and preparing for a prom. We will never get to see her walk down the aisle or meet her children. Logan has taken away her future and ours, we will never get to see Holly grow into a beautiful young woman. By the time Logan has served his sentence he will still be able to start a family and enjoy his life, everything that Holly can’t do because of his mindless, selfish actions. He stabbed my daughter 36 times, in her head, chest and back. The pain she must have suffered breaks my heart to even imagine.
"It was more than just one life lost that night because our hearts also stopped. Holly is missed beyond words can ever describe but will never be forgotten."
MacPhail was found guilty of murdering Holly and wounding the boy she was with and will serve a minimum term of 17 years..
Join our WhatsApp communities
ChronicleLive is now on WhatsApp and we want you to join our communities.
We have a number of communities to join, so you can choose which one you want to be part of and we'll send you the latest news direct to your phone. You could even join them all!
To join you need to have WhatsApp on your device. All you need to do is choose which community you want to join, click on the link and press 'join community'.
No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the ChronicleLive team.
We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners.
If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'.
If you’re curious, you can read our privacy notice.
Join the ChronicleLive Breaking News and Top Stories community
Join our Court & Crime community
Join the Things to do in Newcastle and the North East community
Join our Northumberland community
Join our County Durham community
Join our Great North Run community