The public will likely never know why a 15-year-old girl was murdered by her ex-boyfriend in Hexham last year, said a detective who worked on the case.
Fifteen-year-old Holly Newton was stabbed to death by Logan MacPhail, now aged 17, in a Hexham alleyway on Friday, January 27 last year.
MacPhail, from Birtley, Gateshead, was aged 16 at the time and stalked Holly who was with her friends through the centre of Hexham before slashing and stabbing her 36 times.
He also stabbed a teenage boy who intervened to try to stop the attack.
CCTV showed him wearing a snood and a baseball cap and ducking out of sight as he followed Holly and her friends around the town centre.
READ MORE: 'The enormity cannot be put into words', says Holly Newton's heartbroken mother
MacPhail, who has autism and learning difficulties, said he meant to harm himself that day but it went too far and that was a stance that he maintained throughout trial at Newcastle Crown Court.
There was debate as to whether MacPhail was fit to plead as his defence team made applications for him not to stand trial on the basis that he could not understand the legal process but, after several hearings, he was deemed well enough.
He was convicted of murder, as well as wounding with intent on a teenager who tried to stop him.
Both verdicts were delivered following the six-week trial at Newcastle Crown Court, on August 29.
His sentencing concluded on Friday, November 1 where he was given a 17-year minimum term by the judge. He was also given five years for the wounding offence, which will be served concurrently.
READ MORE: 'The enormity cannot be put into words', says Holly Newton's heartbroken mother
MacPhail has served 641 days on remand, so he will serve 15 years and 89 days from November 1.
Nigel Edwards KC, defending, said MacPhail's progress since he has been in secure accommodation was "meteoric".
Micala read out a victim impact statement of losing her daughter during the sentencing.
"The enormity and severity cannot be put into words.
"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."
Holly's family has established Holly's Hope, which aims to buy and install 'bleed kits' and critical injury packs around the North East and educate young people and teens about domestic abuse.
Micala described MacPhail as mild-mannered and polite during his regular visits to their home but things changed when Holly matured and decided to end the relationship.
The prosecution said MacPhail did not accept that their 18-month relationship was over.
The night before the attack, MacPhail travelled more than 40 miles from his home to Holly’s house in Haltwhistle claiming he wanted a video game console back and hung around for hours, trying to convince one of her siblings to open the door.
MacPhail was eventually taken home by police who had been alerted by his mother that he was missing.
Holly's mother, Micala Trussler, was concerned enough to contact the police and arrange to speak to an officer about MacPhail's behaviour the next afternoon.
That same afternoon, MacPhail stabbed Holly to death.
MacPhail left his school in Gateshead at lunchtime and claimed he was going home. Instead, he got the bus from Gateshead town centre to Hexham with a kitchen knife in his backpack and then while in disguise followed Holly, who was unaware, for at least 45 minutes.
Officer in charge, Detective Sergeant Darren Davies of Northumbria Police force’s Major Investigation Team, said: "MacPhail struggles a little with reading and writing so he communicates via voice notes primarily. He was messaging Holly's friends who she was with, saying 'Can you try and get Holly to meet me', he was messaging other people saying, 'No, I'm not in Hexham, I'm in Newcastle'."
Holly's friends had told MacPhail to stay away from Hexham.
As Holly and her friend visited a takeaway on the town’s high street, MacPhail approached her and asked if she would talk with him in a nearby alleyway.
When the boy heard Holly cry out in the alley, he left the shop and intervened, before he was also stabbed in the shoulder and leg.
"There was one message where he told his family member that he'd found her, he was following her and he was going to wait until it was dark and sneak up on her so she couldn't get him in trouble by recording him. It was clear that he knew what he was doing was wrong and in terms of the evidence there was no shortage of it in terms of who was responsible for Holly's death and the boy's injuries."
Davies said the police nor the public will likely ever know MacPhail's motive due to his stance that he had intended to harm himself instead.
He provided several different reasons for why he was in Hexham that day, including that it was agreed he would meet up with Holly after school.
"It is abundantly clear by his behaviour for a couple of days that getting face-to-face with Holly had to happen. There were lots of plans made - he said he was in Hexham at the time to give Holly her stuff back but he had nothing of Holly's on him. His sole focus was getting face-to-face with Holly, he made sure that happened and I don't think anything was going to stop that happening," Davies said.
Micala, a mother of four, said she was not concerned when the pair started dating as it seemed like a typical teenage relationship. "It wasn't until a couple of months before [the murder] that it became very apparent Holly was unhappy and she didn't want to be in that relationship anymore. But because she was so young, she didn't know how to get out of it.
"She quite often felt sorry for people which is why she kept going back and forward."
Micala said MacPhail's controlling behaviour meant Holly 'struggled to disconnect' from the relationship because he wouldn't allow her.
"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 home, he wanted to know what she was doing.
"He changed her passwords on all of her social media so she was upset about that because she couldn't get into any of it.
"He felt if he couldn't have her, then nobody could. He'd said that to her at one point because she told me."
Micala added she thinks there needs to be more relationship services for under-16s.
READ MORE: Holly Newton's family say killer Logan MacPhail was 'controlling' during relationship
"Younger people need access to domestic abuse services if they feel they need it or receive some counselling to help them.
"I don't think he can be in society and be safe around people. He's carried that knife around a busy town centre with families and young children.
"I do think for us, our future plan is to do some sort of training course for schools for teacher training days, using this case as a way of improving how schools handle children who could possibly carry knives."
Lynsey Colling, deputy chief crown prosecutor for Crown Prosecution Service North East, said: “Holly’s death at MacPhail’s hands has been utterly devastating for her family, and the focus of police and prosecutors throughout this case has been to ensure that they would see him face justice for his actions.
“It is very clear from the evidence in this case that Logan MacPhail killed Holly Newton after being unable to accept that their relationship was over.
“During the early stages of the case, MacPhail’s fitness to plead had been raised as an issue by the defence. It was clear to us from the early evidence that MacPhail did, in fact, possess sufficient evidence to face trial.
“The Crown Prosecution Service instructed psychiatrists to provide reports upon Logan, to assist the court in determining if he was fit to plead and to stand trial for the allegations made against him. Crucially, those assessments also showed that MacPhail possessed the capacity to have formed the required intent to prove the murder charge.
“We’d like to thank Northumbria Police, their excellent investigation meant we were able to secure justice for Holly. Our thoughts remain with Holly’s family and friends, for whom this remains a particularly difficult time, and our sincere hope is that they can take some measure of comfort in seeing her killer sentenced today.”
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