Teenager Who Stalked And Murdered Ex In Knife Attack Named

A “jealous” teenager who stabbed his ex-girlfriend to death in the street because he could not accept their relationship was over can now be named, a judge has ruled.

Independence reports that while reporting restrictions typically prevent the identification of juvenile offenders, Mr Justice Hilliard ruled on Wednesday that the killer of 15-year-old Holly Newton should be named in the interests of open justice and in light of national debates about knife crime and violence against women.

Following a trial in August at Newcastle Crown Court, Logan MacPhail, now aged 17, was convicted of Holly’s murder in Hexham in January 2023.

MacPhail stalked her as she walked around the town centre with friends before launching a frenzied attack, stabbing or slashing her 36 times with a kitchen knife.

It can now be reported that MacPhail had been Holly’s ex-partner, and prosecutors told the court that he was “deeply unhappy” that their 18-month relationship was over and “jealous” that she was with a new boy.

The night before he murdered Holly, MacPhail travelled more than 40 miles from his home in Gateshead to her house in Haltwhistle, Northumberland, and hung around nearby, before he was taken home by police at 1am, after his concerned mother reported him missing.

Holly’s mother, Micala Trussler, was so concerned about MacPhail’s behaviour that she arranged for her daughter not to leave school the next day if he was hanging around.

MacPhail, who has autism and a low IQ, left the special school he attended on Tyneside early and travelled by bus to Hexham, where he followed Holly around before launching his lethal attack near a pizza shop at around 5pm.

Newly released CCTV shows MacPhail, masked and in a baseball cap, speaking to Holly at a bus stop moments before he killed her.

During the trial, jurors heard that Holly was “not at all happy” to see him but she eventually agreed to speak to him down an alleyway. In less than a minute, he inflicted 36 knife wounds on Holly, stabbing her 12 times and slashing her 19 times. She suffered a further five defensive injuries to her hands.

After being alerted by her screams, another teenage boy ran down the alleyway and grabbed the defendant, and was also stabbed himself. Passers-by and people from the pizza shop attempted to help and Holly was rushed to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, but she was pronounced dead.