Teenager who murdered ex-girlfriend in street after stalking her detained for life

Logan MacPhail, then aged 16, stalked Holly Newton for an hour through Hexham, Northumberland, before knifing her 36 times in an alleyway.

CCTV showed him wearing a snood and a baseball cap and ducking out of sight as he followed Holly and her friends around the town centre.

He also stabbed a teenage boy who intervened to try to stop the attack which was so savage that the weapon broke and the blade snapped.

MacPhail was convicted of murder following a trial at Newcastle Crown Court in August and sentenced at the same court on Friday.

Last month the judge lifted a reporting restriction which had prevented the media from identifying him due to his age.

Mr Justice Hilliard, sentencing, said MacPhail, who has autism and learning difficulties, did not accept that their 18-month relationship was over.

He said: “I am satisfied that earlier in January 2023, Holly indicated that the relationship was at an end and you realised at this time she meant it for good.

“You were not able to accept that, you were obsessed with Holly and your desire to resume the relationship.”

The judge said by the time MacPhail lured Holly down the alleyway, the teenager had decided to attack her, having spoken to her at a bus stop.

“You were filled with resentment and jealousy but still able to calculate where you were best able to attack her.”

The night before he murdered Holly, he travelled 40 miles from his home in Gateshead to hers in Haltwhistle, Northumberland, where he hung around for hours.

MacPhail was eventually taken home by police who had been alerted by his mother that he was missing.

Holly’s mother, Micala Trussler, was concerned enough to contact the police and arranged to speak to an officer about MacPhail’s behaviour the next afternoon.

That same afternoon, MacPhail stabbed Holly to death.

MacPhail, who met Holly when they both attended Army cadets, claimed he never planned to attack her, but wanted to use the knife to kill himself – but the jury rejected his story.

In a victim statement on Thursday, Mrs Trussler described not being able to be with her fatally-injured daughter in hospital because her body “was a crime scene”.

The mother-of-four said Holly and MacPhail had a typical teenage relationship at first, but her daughter came to realise he was controlling her.

Mrs Trussler believed her daughter was the victim of domestic abuse, although she was under 16 at the time, and was caused emotional turmoil by her ex-partner.

He changed her social media passwords and made her believe he could hack into her accounts, as well as threatening to self-harm.

The night before the murder, MacPhail tried repeatedly to be allowed into Holly’s home and hung around for hours, trying to convince one of her siblings to open the door.

“I dread to think what could have happened to the rest of my family had he been allowed inside,” the mother said.

During the two-day sentencing exercise, there was discussion about MacPhail’s learning difficulties, his autism and his culpability.

David Brooke KC, prosecuting, pointed out the teenager was able to get to Haltwhistle from his home in Gateshead alone the night before the murder, to follow Holly around Hexham while disguised and to lie to her about his whereabouts.

“He was perfectly able to make rational choices,” Mr Brooke said.

Nigel Edwards KC, defending, said MacPhail’s progress since he has been in secure accommodation was “meteoric”.

Mr Justice Hilliard said: “The stark facts are that you made a conscious decision to stab a 15-year-old girl to death with a knife that you were carrying unlawfully in a public place having followed her secretly around town for an hour, all because your relationship with her had ended.

“You were jealous of the fact she might see someone else.

“What happened in this case should not happen to any child or any parent.”

The judge described the attack, which lasted more than a minute, as “vicious and brutal”.

Speaking of the family’s loss, Mr Justice Hilliard added: “All those years ahead for a 15-year-old girl that she and they will never see.”

MacPhail had admitted manslaughter, but was convicted of murder as well as wounding with intent on the teenage boy.

The boy was stabbed four times by MacPhail after he tried to stop the fatal attack and said he was now struggling with his mental health.

The youth, who cannot be identified by the media due to his age, told the court in his victim statement that he found his GCSEs difficult and found it hard to concentrate following the attack.

He said: “I wouldn’t wish this on anyone. I cannot imagine what Holly’s family are going through.

“Whatever sentence Logan gets it ain’t going to change what happened that day.”

Outside court, Detective Sergeant Darren Davies, of Northumbria Police, said: “We would urge everyone to look at the pain this incident has caused to so many people and think twice before carrying a weapon of any kind.”

Lynsey Colling, deputy chief crown prosecutor for Crown Prosecution Service North East, said: “It is very clear from the evidence in this case that Logan MacPhail killed Holly Newton after being unable to accept that their relationship was over.”

The Crown instructed psychiatrists to determine whether MacPhail was fit to stand trial after that had been raised as an issue by the defence.

“Crucially, those assessments also showed that MacPhail possessed the capacity to have formed the required intent to prove the murder charge,” she said.