Murdered girl’s mum says her last moments were ‘brutally taken away from her’

The mum of a 15-year-old girl who was stabbed to death by her ex-boyfriend has said she was stopped from seeing her daughter because she was murdered so brutally.

Holly Newton suffered 36 injuries after Logan MacPhail attacked her in an alley in Hexham, Northumberland, in January 2023.

MacPhail, 17, was found guilty of murder and at his sentencing hearing today, Holly’s heartbroken mother Micala Trussler revealed she was unable to see her daughter after the attack.

Her heartbroken mother Micala Trussler said: ‘I was stopped from seeing my daughter in the alleyway and in the ambulance due to the horrifying condition she was in.

‘The last time I saw my daughter was that morning, I never saw her with her eyes open again. I never heard her last words.

‘My daughter died not knowing her mam was by her side. My daughter’s last moments were taken away from her, brutally, painfully and without her loving family.’

She added that her daughter’s body became a ‘crime scene’ and was not even able to hold her hand.

MacPhail had followed Holly around Hexham for 45 minutes after she finished school and after having a brief exchange outside of a pizza shop, he launched an attack so violent it broke the blade of his knife.

He denied murdering Holly and wounding in relation to a boy who tried to intervene but was found guilty by a jury of both charges.

Ms Trussler said Macphail had been welcomed into her home, as her daughter’s first ever boyfriend and he was always ‘mild mannered and polite’ and they seemed happy together.

But she said MacPhail’s visit to her home the night before the murder, when he was refused access, has left her chilled with thoughts of what could have happened to the family if he had got in.

Her mother had been so concerned that day that she contacted police about the then 16-year-old boy, who was known to her daughter, and it was agreed that Holly should not leave school if the youth was outside.

Ms Trussler said Holly should have been doing her GCSEs and preparing for prom then going on to perhaps marry and have children of her own.

She added: ‘It’s more than one life lost that night, our hearts also stopped.’

Macphail turns 18 in December but a High Court judge took the unusual step of lifting the ban on reporting his identity before he becomes an adult.

During the trial, prosecutor David Brooke KC told the court Macphail and Holly had recently split up and added:

‘It is clear from the evidence that Logan Macphail was very unhappy about the break-up.

‘Logan Macphail travelled that Friday from Gateshead to Hexham where Holly Newton went to school. He had been to school that day in Gateshead. He told his teacher at lunchtime that he was very tired and wanted to go home.

‘He was allowed to leave and left at 1.30pm. However, instead of going home Logan Macphail caught a bus to the Metrocentre and then another bus to Hexham arriving at 3pm.

‘He then walked a short way to a park called Sele Park which is in the direction of the school.’

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