The Murder of Holly Newton

[LuluBlakey1]

Holly was 15 years old when she was murdered in Hexham, Northumberland after school by her ex-boyfriend Logan McPhail. He stalked her and stabbed her 36 times in the head and body in an alley.

It is the most horrific case. Hexham is a quiet market town in Northumberland, serving a rural community. He travelled 30 miles on a bus, carrying a large knife, masked his face and stalked her and harassed her around the town, after she finished school for the day, before killing her in an alley next to the chip shop where her friends were buying chips.

The level of excuses made for him is disgusting. He functions very adequately in society and expressed no remorse at all when he was arrested at the scene - just tild police hus name, who she was and complained and lied to the police that Holly had been 'too horrible' to him. There is no evidence that Holly (or her family) ever treated him with anything but kindness and care.

His treatment of her in the weeks leading up to him murdering her is terrifying. He should be locked up forever- any male who treats females like this should be locked up for life.

Details of case https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cwygp7x8874t

Holly's mum's Statement . Her mother's statement is devastating, astute and very moving. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1jrpwyw78po

@jcakey
Yeah it's likely he'll only be further hardened by prison. Mind you, he may end up committing suicide. Sociopaths like him often do once they're in a situation where they are the prey.

Going back to that Graun article, it's also factually wrong that she "didn't see the red flags", as she bloody ended the relationship.

To be honest it even feels unfair to her to call her his ex girlfriend. It seems more like he became fixated on her and she was initially (reluctantly) entered into a connection with him but then was trying to get away sharpish

I totally agree with everything you've written. It's infuriating. So they've changed the headline now, but further down in the article it still says "The red flags were there but Holly was too young to recognise them."

That's blatantly NOT TRUE. Further up, the article says "A couple of months before she was killed, it became apparent Holly was not happy and no longer wanted to be in the relationship" [said Holly's mother].

And then "Because she was so young, she didn’t really know how to get out of it".
So clearly she had recognised the red flags. But was struggling to know how to handle things (because who of us would have known how to handle this behaviour when we were 15?)

What's more, further down it's reported that Holly said "So he’s basically stalking me at this point". I.e. even more clear evidence that she had seen the red flags.

There is literally zero evidence in the article that she was "too young to recognise them". It's the journalist's personal, emotive viewpoint and I'm utterly sickened that he felt entitled to include it.

Disgusting to bring autism into it - someone with his capacity to function, who has autism, is no more likely to be violent than a neurotypical person. The difficulty he has is that he thinks it's ok and reasonable to do what he did.

I know, it's offensive.

Hexham is my local town and Holly's murder has been really devastating. Her mum has campaigned ceaselessly and is a true inspiration. Nobody should have had to endure what they have, utterly tragic and senseless.

she had recognised the red flags

Not supporting the Guardian, but even her mother didn't expect this of him. ie the violence.

Her mother was worried that because Holly was kind and wanted to see the best in people, she didn't just cut him off, ie agreeing to say him again.

I dont think Holly, her mother nor in fact the perpetrator's mother, who were all worried about his behaviour were thinking it will lead to violence. From what I have read it was about him not being able to accept she wanted nothing more to do with him.

And that they wanted the police to take more seriously his "stalking".

And, I can only imagine how she feels about this, Holly's mother agreed to delay the meeting with the police, so that Holly could go out with friends. If she had thought he was this close to violence she never would have agreed to it.

I'm fairly local to this too. Its reported they met at cadets in Consett

@labtest57 I have read since that Holly's step-dad ran the cadets so I get her travelling from Haltwhistle with him but Consett seems a long way for the boy to travel from Birtley.

So sad and depressing. Why didn't his parents / the police (order the bus company to) remove his ability to travel by bus? Why were the police talking to Holly and not him? Why are stalkers allowed to carry on like this? Taking away his means to travel to where Holly lived would have been relatively easy, a proportionate consequence of his actions and would have benefited everyone.

Boys who behave like this should be locked down by school and home (and police) as much as possible, not left to terrorise young girls up to the point of assault and murder.

Holly should not have died, such a tragedy, I hope he never leaves prison.

The night before he murdered Holly, MacPhail travelled 40 miles from his home in Gateshead to hers in Haltwhistle, Northumberland, where he loitered for hours.

MacPhail was eventually taken home by police who had been alerted by his mother that he was missing.

I didn't know this. The fact that the police took him home and didn't follow up the next day, or in fact hold him in police cells over night.

Nor did I know this:

Macphail ... denied ... wounding with intent, in relation to a boy who tried to intervene.

The teenager was stabbed multiple times and suffered injury to his thigh, neck and shoulder, trying to protect Holly.

How incredibly brave. But must have left him with memories and emotions that will be hard to live with.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11/01/teenager-murdered-ex-girlfriend-holly-newton-sentenced/

Bloody hell. Why wasn't his ability to travel stopped? The police are just shit.

Bloody hell. Why wasn't his ability to travel stopped?

Lack of joined up thinking?

They thought they were dealing with a "vulnerable" boy who had gone missing.

Somehow not matching this to Holly's mother saying there needed to be a meeting with the police about this behaviour towards Holly.

imagine if the police could just 'stop people travelling'

If only for once someone would write about how friends, parents or whoever of the male perpetrator "failed to recognise the signs" of a boy or man not respecting other peoples boundaries.

this is so true. Why are the boy’s friends and family never mentioned? The only time I see it mentioned is if the boy has come from an abusive home. Then it’s like it’s used as an excuse. Like in the Pelicot case.

True. It sounds like mostly she just felt sorry for him.

What was the original headline?

That poor girl, so horrific.

They've pulled all trace of the previous headline, but it's in the text

"The red flags were there but Holly was too young to recognise them"

I think you can still see it here in the image of the newspaper article shared in this post https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womensrights/5200255-the-murder-of-holly-newton?reply=139474922 and in image below. (Sorry not sure why its so big, but click on image to see it all.)

Now it says:

How a 16-year-old’s coercive behaviour led to the murder of Holly Newton
Schoolgirl was apparently killed for the most mundane reason: her ex-boyfriend could not accept losing her

Her parents were on the radio just now wanting the definition of domestic violence victims to be lowered so it would include 15 year olds. Currently it's classed as child abuse. I know they think this might have helped but given how underplayed DV is it might be better to spread awareness that a perp can be under 16 as well.

If a 12 year old told you that she was being battered by her boyfriend would you refer it to police as DV or child grooming? The Giselle Pelicot case thread also had someone mention that they have a "Romeo and Juliet" clause for sexual consent where if 1 partner (usually the boy) is about a year older they don't prosecute

I agree. Many men have difficult childhoods. The majority do not go on to rape and murder. However evil this young man is, he must receive a defence. The judge dismissed all the excuses, thus ending the torment to Holly's family.

We need to recognise how early domestic abuse starts.

Lalgarh · Yesterday 12:07

To be honest it even feels unfair to her to call her his ex girlfriend. It seems more like he became fixated on her and she was initially (reluctantly) entered into a connection with him but then was trying to get away sharpish

Yes, that's my impression, that he wanted her to be his girlfriend, but she didn't reciprocate. I'm rather surprised that he only got 17 years, compare that to Brianna Ghey's murderers, they got 20 and 22 years and were of similar ages.

Age at which domestic violence victims recognised by law to be looked at
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/yvette-cooper-home-secretary-government-northumberland-northumbria-police-b1191838.html