Schoolgirl Holly Newton's murderer unmasked as former boyfriend Logan MacPhail
The identity of a 17-year-old convicted of murdering 15-year-old Holly Newton in Hexham can now be reported for the first time
by Rob Kennedy · ChronicleLiveThe teenager who savagely murdered schoolgirl Holly Newton can today be unmasked as her former boyfriend Logan MacPhail.
Reporting restrictions which have so far prevented us from identifying the killer due to his age have now been lifted by the judge who heard the trial at Newcastle Crown Court. It can now be revealed that at the time of the frenzied attack in Hexham, Holly, 15, had recently split up with MacPhail, who was 16 at the time and is now 17.
Jurors found MacPhail, of Birtley, Gateshead, guilty of murdering Holly and wounding another youth with intent when they went to her aid and he is due to be sentenced later this month.
During the trial, the jurors were told various facts about the case that could not be reported at the time due to the reporting restriction. David Brooke KC, prosecuting, said: “They had been boyfriend and girlfriend but had recently split up. 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. Holly left school with her friend at around 3.20pm and walked into Hexham. They met up with another boy and (they) wandered around Hexham for a while, going to various shops including Tesco.
“Logan MacPhail 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 he 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. Meanwhile, Holly (and the others) also walked towards the park and then into town. There is CCTV evidence from the town centre. It shows that by shortly before 4pm Logan MacPhail was following them at a distance. He was careful not to be seen by them for the next 45 minutes or so.”
Holly and a boy went to order food at a Pizza shop, with Holly waiting outside. Mr Brooke said: “There is a bus-stop just outside the shop. Logan MacPhail hid for a bit further up the road, but then walked down to where Holly was waiting outside the Pizza shop.
“Holly was not at all happy about seeing him. For quite a few minutes Logan MacPhail sat on a seat at the bus stop and eventually Holly agreed to speak to him in an alleyway next to the pizza shop.
“What Holly didn’t know was that Logan MacPhail had brought a knife with him.” There were then screams from the alley as MacPhail launched his frenzied attack.
A boy who went to Holly’s aid also suffered knife injuries and passers-by and people from the shop also went to stop MacPhail, who was pulled off Holly while still stabbing her. The knife blade had broken and there were 36 injuries to Holly caused by the knife.
An ambulance was called and Holly was taken to Newcastle Royal Victoria Infirmary. Despite efforts to save her, she died.
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MacPhail had claimed he took the knife to hurt himself but Mr Brooke said: “The Prosecution do not accept his account. The evidence is that Logan MacPhail was deeply unhappy that Holly had split up with him. We say that he deliberately went to Hexham to find Holly.
“We say that Logan MacPhail followed Holly and (a youth) around the town looking for an opportunity to speak to Holly alone. It may well be that Holly was “horrible” to Logan MacPhail outside the Pizza shop but that was because she did not want to see him.
“He would not accept that the relationship with Holly was over. We simply say that he became angry and stabbed Holly many many times in the alleyway.”
The court heard MacPhail attended Cedar College, Gateshead, a special school. He was described as having autism and educational needs. He met Holly through attending army cadets in Consett and they had been in a relationship for 18 months.
Holly’s friend described the relationship as toxic and said that they would frequently argue. Mr Brooke said: “The two had split up on the previous Saturday and Logan MacPhail had been contacting (the friend) ever since. It appears that he was struggling to come to terms with the break-up.
“(The friend) had asked Holly why she had separated from Logan but she didn’t really give a reason. They had broken up several times during their relationship, and Holly’s parents were aware of the most recent split. The friend initially believed Logan was messaging her due to concern for Holly. Then she became aware he was trying to find out information about Holly. She had received contact from him on either Thursday or Friday asking if Holly had been seeing anyone else.
“Logan MacPhail said he was cold, at a park and on a swing. She believes he may have said he was outside Holly’s house and that he wanted to see Holly in person as it would be easier to talk to her.”
The court heard it turned out MacPhail had travelled close to where Holly lived the night before he killed her. Police got a report he was missing from home and “feeling down” after breaking up with his girlfriend. Further information was received by police through MacPhail’s mother that he was in a park in Haltwhistle waiting to get possessions back from Holly. Police found him and took him home.
Phone messages showed MacPhail wanted to get his Playstation back by meeting Holly at Haltwhistle park. She replied but refused to meet him in Haltwhistle and said that she could meet him in Hexham the following day after school.
She later sent messages to someone saying she was worried in case “he follows us and it all kicks off”.
MacPhail had gone to Haltwhistle nonetheless. By this time Holly had blocked him on Whatsapp. He made repeated attempts to contact Holly through her brother.
Mr Brooke said: “It is obvious from the messages that Logan believed that Holly had been seeing other boys.”
Just after midnight, MacPhail began to contact Holly’s friend asking for information about Holly. In one message he asked if she would “trick her meeting me”. He said that it would mean they could “end it” in person.
The friend told the police that early on the January 27, MacPhail had contacted her stating he would see them either at their school or at the bus station. The friend stated that MacPhail had also told her that if he did come to Hexham, she was not to tell Holly.
Mr Brooke said: “The next day Holly was extremely nervous. They checked the school grounds and surrounding area after school but didn’t see Logan.
“(Her friend) messaged Logan to check if he had come to Hexham. He said that he was still in Newcastle. That was not true. By that time, Logan was already in Hexham.”
The court heard messages recovered from Holly’s phone “show her attitude” to MacPhail. In one, at 08.15am,on the day she died she stated “Apparently Logan is gonna meet me outside of school”, adding: “So he’s basically stalking me at this point”. He’s gonna follow me until I talk to him”.
Given what had happened the night before when MacPhail travelled to Haltwhistle, Holly’s mother contacted the police about her concerns at 9.40am. Sadly, within hours, she had been murdered.
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