A heartbroken mother has told how the justice system ‘pandered around’ her teenage daughter’s killer after she was stabbed to death in a horrific attack by her ex-boyfriend.
Holly Newton, 15, was murdered after school in Hexham, Northumberland, in January 2023 by Logan MacPhail, 18, who lured her into an alleyway before knifing her 36 times.
A court heard how MacPhail was ‘filled with resentment and jealously’ after Holly broke up with him and launched the ‘vicious’ attack because she refused to consider getting back together.
When arrested, the teenager, who was 16 at the time, told officers Holly’s name and said: ‘She was being too horrible to me. I meant to kill myself but it went too far.’
He was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 17 years last November.
Now Holly’s mother Micala Trussler has told how the family endured further pain as they watched the justice system ‘pander’ to MacPhail, with an 18-month wait to declare him fit to stand trial.
‘Special measures had to be put into place for Logan, and it’s really hard to sit there and watch people pander around him when he’s literally murdered a child,’ Ms Trussler told Channel 4’s new documentary series, Social Media Monsters.
Although MacPhail openly admitted to arresting officers that he was responsible for killing Holly, the documentary reveals how lawyers appointed to him attempted to stop him from ever standing trial.
They pointed to factors including an autism diagnosis and a low IQ score, and it was also revealed that he had been subject to a child protection plan at the time which deemed him to be an ‘at risk’ minor.
Holly’s family told how it took almost 18 months for a decision to finally be taken on MacPhail’s fitness to stand, which they say prevented them grieving for her.
Lee Trussler, Holly’s stepfather, said: ‘[Defence lawyers] tried to say Logan wasn’t competent enough to stand trial.
‘It was frustrating. We had to wait for a year and a half nearly for it to be found that he was fit enough to stand trial.’
Ms Trussler added: ‘We felt like we couldn’t grieve for Holly until we’d got some sort of justice for her, so it was a long time not to grieve properly for our child.’
During the trial, which was eventually held in August 2024, details of MacPhail’s disturbing relationship with Holly came to light, including stalking and control of her social media accounts.
Ms Trussler has been an outspoken campaigner in the aftermath of her daughter’s death for the introduction of ‘Holly’s Law’ – which would enable under 18s to be labelled victims of domestic abuse.
Speaking after the trial, she described how MacPhail became increasingly controlling and ‘obsessed’ with Holly.
She said: ‘He was obsessed with her for a long time. He didn’t like her to go out.
‘He didn’t want her to go out with her friends. He needed to know where she was all the time, even if she was just at home. He wanted to know what she was doing.
‘He changed her passwords on all of her social media, so she was quite upset about that, because she couldn’t get into any of it.
‘There was just a lot of controlling behaviour going on.’
The two teenagers, who met at Army Cadets and were together for around 18 months, briefly split up before Holly’s death, but got back together partly because she ‘felt sorry’ for her killer, Ms Trussler said.
As well as autism, MacPhail also had a severe speech impediment and learning difficulties, and struggled to read and write.
After raising concerns with her mother over MacPhail’s behaviour, Holly then split up with him for good, but her killer could not accept the relationship was over.
The evening before murdering Holly, MacPhail travelled 40 miles to her house and demanded to be let in, before spending hours lurking outside the property.
The family were so concerned over his behaviour that they set up a meeting with police officers the next day for Holly and her parents to attend after school.
But in a heartbreaking twist of fate, Holly begged to be allowed to go into town with friends before the meeting and was murdered before she could ever attend it.
MacPhail had again travelled 40 miles to Hexham that day, and, unbeknownst to the schoolgirl, tailed her and her friends for 45 minutes before confronting Holly at a bus stop.
Having lured her into a nearby alleyway, he then stabbed Holly 36 times, and also attacked a male friend who had accompanied her when he tried to intervene.
Members of the public were eventually able to pull MacPhail off the teenager, but so frenzied was his attack that he was still stabbing her at the time – with such force that the blade of the weapon had broken.
Ms Trussler told how upon hearing of the attack, she rushed to the scene but was prevented from seeing her daughter.
In a devastating victim impact statement in court, she said: ‘I was stopped from seeing my daughter in the alleyway and 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. 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.’
In Parliament earlier this year, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said his government will review the age at which people can be classed as victims of domestic abuse ‘at the earliest opportunity’.
Social Media Monsters is a new Channel 4 documentary that unravels shocking cases where social media has played a key role in murder, stalking or fraud.
The first episode of Social Media Monsters is available to stream on Channel 4.
