Home Secretary to look at age which law recognises domestic violence victims after Holly Newton murder
by Daniel Hall · ChronicleLiveThe Home Secretary says that the Government will look at the age which victims of domestic abuse are recognised as such by law after the murder of Holly Newton.
15-year-old Holly was murdered by Logan MacPhail, who she had been in a relationship with for 18 months. Newcastle Crown Court heard last week 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. He was shown to have followed Holly and her friends for around 45 minutes before approaching her outside a takeaway.
Unaware that he was carrying a knife, Holly agreed to speak to him in an alleyway, where he launched a frenzied attack where she sustained 36 knife wounds. MacPhail, who was 16 at the time of the incident, was sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum term of 17 years.
Speaking to the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, home secretary Yvette Cooper confirmed that the Government would specifically look at Holly's case in relation to changing the law. She said that the Government would look at the ways police record cases of violence against women and girls, and to take action against that as part of the wider mission half violence against women and girls over the next ten years.
She said: "I would have all sympathy with Holly's family, I can't imagine what they will have gone through, this was a truly awful case;" adding: "We will specifically look at this because we need to make sure we have got the right ways of recording this kind of violence in teenage relationships. I do think this is an extremely important issue and we do have to take seriously the points that they (Micala and Lee Trussler) have made."
Micala and Lee Trussler, Holly's mum and stepdad announced after the conclusion of the trial that they are in the process of making an educational package to deliver to young teens and adults on the signs of domestic abuse through their foundation Holly's Hope. This will be alongside raising money to provide emergency bleed control kits, with some already installed in Hexham.
The couple also appeared on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, with their comments put to Ms Cooper in a later segment. Micala said: "I think it's important to recognise younger people are getting into relationships earlier and they need that support, and at the minute, they can't access that support because in the eyes of the law, they can't be victims of domestic abuse unless they're over 16."
The Trusslers say they didn't pick up the signs of MacPhail's controlling and coercive behaviour until it was too late. In the time leading up to Holly's murder, he had threatened to take his own life if she left him.
Lee believes that if Holly had known what to look out for, the relationship "would have ended a lot sooner." The couple also say that recognising domestic abuse against under 16s, rather than classifying it as child abuse, opens them up to different kinds of support.
Micala said: "There are lots of different places that secure an evacuation plan for victims of domestic abuse, and that's the most important thing. And I think for Holly, she didn't know how to exit safely.
"It's important that they (under 16s) know what is normal and what is not normal. But also, we need to teach young boys what's normal, what's not normal, what's acceptable, what's not acceptable.
"Teenagers can be very secretive and I think that's also why it's important for this education plan because they tend to talk more amongst themselves. Because even if they're not going to go and speak to a parent, they know they've got an organisation or even just talk with their friends, and then obviously there are other ways of getting support other than just parents."
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