A 15-year-old schoolgirl was murdered by her jealous former boyfriend days after she ended their relationship, it can now be revealed.
Obsessed Logan MacPhail, who was 16 at the time, was ‘very unhappy’ at the split with Holly Newton following an 18-month relationship and had been ‘stalking’ her.
He was so consumed with jealousy that when he saw Holly walking in town with another boy he ended up stabbing her to death in a frenzied attack in an alleyway, Newcastle Crown Court heard.
Holly suffered 36 injuries from the attack with a kitchen knife MacPhail had brought with him.
The other teenage boy heard her screams and got him in a headlock but was also stabbed before members of the public intervened. The boy needed surgery and was lucky to survive, the court heard.
MacPhail was found guilty of murder in August and now, with his 18th birthday just weeks away, the judge has lifted a reporting restriction which allows the killer to be identified.
The decision means the full nature of his shocking crime of teenage passion can now be revealed. MacPhail is due to be sentenced later this month.
At the time of the murder in January last year MacPhail, who is autistic with learning difficulties, attended a special school in Gateshead.
He met Holly through army cadets and they had been boyfriend and girlfriend for some time.
The jury was told that Holly liked her boyfriend ‘spending his money on her,’ but a friend said they argued frequently and the relationship had become ‘toxic’ leading up to the break-up. The young couple had broken up several times previously.
Prosecutor David Brooke, KC, said MacPhail was ‘struggling to come to terms with the break-up’ and the evening before the alleged murder he travelled to the village of Haltwhistle, near Hexham, where Holly lived and was reported missing to police by his mother.
He then went to Holly’s house but her mother wouldn’t let him in. Police later contacted him by phone. The court heard MacPhail met officers at 1am and they took him home.
An arrangement was made for Holly to go with her mother to discuss the stalking problem with police after school the next day. However, Holly wanted to go out with friends and persuaded her mother to reschedule the meeting for later that evening.
Holly’s mother Micala Trussler described this decision as ‘the biggest mistake of my life.’
On the day of the murder Holly only left school after a check was made to ensure MacPhail was not outside.
In fact, he was waiting for Holly in Hexham after leaving school early, telling a teacher he was tired and wanted to go home.
MacPhail followed Holly, who was with a girlfriend and another boy, at a distance, but he was spotted. Holly eventually agreed to talk to him down an alleyway next to a pizza shop.
Out of sight he then launched the ferocious attack. MacPhail, who admitted manslaughter but denied murder, told police Holly was ‘horrible’ to him when they talked in the alleyway and his ‘mind went blank.’
The prosecution rejected this defence and persuaded the jurors they could be sure he knew what he was doing.
After the verdict Mrs Trussler paid tribute to her daughter, saying: ‘Holly was a beautiful child. She was my firstborn, a clingy child who never left my side. She grew into a funny and happy teenager who would do anything for anyone.’
She also added that her dance-mad daughter would ‘do anything to make people smile.’
In his ruling allowing MacPhail to be identified before his 18th birthday, Mr Justice Hilliard said: ‘There is great public concern about murders by young people who have carried knives in public places and about violence to women and girls.
‘Legitimate debate is assisted by knowing who has committed such offences and their circumstances and the full detail of the offences in question.’