‘My daughter was a crime scene’: Mother’s hospital heartache after girl, 15, stabbed 36 times by ex-boyfriend

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The heartbroken mother of a 15-year-old girl who was murdered by her obsessed ex-boyfriend said she was unable to touch her in hospital because “my daughter was a crime scene”.

Logan MacPhail, now 17, stabbed Holly Newton 36 times in an alleyway after he stalked her for an hour through the town centre of Hexham, Northumberland, in January 2023.

He was convicted following a trial at Newcastle Crown Court, and earlier this month the judge lifted a reporting restriction that had prevented the media from identifying him.

In a moving victim impact statement read to the court on Thursday while her daughter’s killer watched remotely via videolink, Micala Trussler said Holly “died not knowing her mam was by her side”.

Ms Trussler, a mother-of-four, said she raced to the scene of the tea-time attack only to be met with a more horrific scenario than she had imagined.

“The enormity and severity cannot be put into words,” she said.

“I was stopped from seeing my daughter in the alleyway and the ambulance due to the horrifying condition she was in.

“My daughter died not knowing her mam was by her side.

“Once at hospital, I was unable to even touch my daughter, hug her, kiss her or hold her hand. My daughter was a crime scene, she was evidence.”

MacPhail was Holly’s first boyfriend and at the start they had a normal teenage relationship, the mother said.

She described him as mild-mannered and polite during his regular visits to their home in Haltwhistle, Northumberland.

Holly had tried to help MacPhail, who had autism and learning difficulties, learn to read by getting him books from the library. But things changed when Holly matured and decided to end the relationship, her mother said.

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

MacPhail travelled to her home the night before the murder and hung around for hours, trying to convince one of her siblings to let him in.

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

Ms Trussler believes her daughter was the victim of domestic abuse, although because of her age her death will not be recorded as a domestic homicide.

She is raising money in her daughter’s memory to buy trauma boxes to help save lives of people at risk of bleeding to death and also wants teenagers to learn more about identifying toxic relationships.

“Holly is missed beyond words and can never be described and never be forgotten,” she added.

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.

MacPhail denied murder but admitted manslaughter, claiming he blacked out, but his story was rejected by the jury.

MacPhail was convicted of murder as well as wounding with intent after a boy stepped in to try to stop the attack.

The two-day sentencing hearing continues.