A teenage boy has been found guilty of murdering the schoolgirl Holly Newton, inflicting 36 knife wounds, after he was said to have stalked her.
The boy, now 17, had admitted manslaughter but denied murdering 15-year-old Holly in Hexham, Northumberland, in January 2023.
After a five-week trial at Newcastle crown court the boy, who was 16 at the time and cannot be identified, was on Thursday found guilty of murder.
Holly, from Haltwhistle, was murdered after she had finished her day at school in Hexham and was walking round shops with friends.
David Brooke KC, prosecuting, said the defendant was following Holly and her friends from a distance. “It is quite clear he was being careful not to be seen by them for the next 45 minutes or so,” Brooke said.
The boy made himself known to Holly, who was not happy to see him, the court heard. She agreed to speak to him down an alleyway. “What Holly didn’t know was that [the defendant] had brought a knife with him,” Brooke said.
In less than a minute, the defendant inflicted 36 knife wounds on Holly, stabbing her 12 times and slashing her 19 times. She suffered a further five defensive injuries to her hands.
A 16-year-old boy who was with Holly tried to help and was also stabbed.
Passersby managed to restrain the defendant, who then said Holly had been “horrible” or “awful” to him, before adding: “Oh what have I done?” The boy later told police: “I was meant to kill myself but it went too far.”
Holly was taken to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle but could not be saved.
Brooke said Holly had been “extremely nervous” when she left school that day and looked for the boy in the grounds and surrounding area.
That morning she had messaged a friend to say: “Apparently [the defendant] is gonna meet to me outside of school. So he’s basically stalking me at this point. He’s gonna follow me until I talk to him.”
Jurors were told that Holly’s mother, Micala Trussler, had been so concerned that morning that she contacted police about the boy, and it was agreed that Holly should not leave school if he was outside.
Giving evidence the defendant, who has been diagnosed with autism, said he could not remember stabbing Holly or the boy who came to her aid but accepted he was responsible.
Asked if he remembered the stabbings happening, he responded “no” but said he remembered being in Hexham, getting off a bus, and “a bit” of walking through parts of the town.
The boy said he had been hit by family members with a belt, a slipper and shoes during his childhood, and that “horrible stuff” had been happening inside his head.
The defence barrister, Nigel Edwards KC, asked him: “The night that Holly died, when you go to Hexham, what is it you want to do?” The defendant replied: “It wasn’t for going there to hurt her or kill her, it wasn’t for that.”
Asked what he had wanted to happen that day, he added: “To try and take my own life.”
After the guilty verdict the judge, Mr Justice Hilliard, invited Holly’s mother to pay tribute before the jury dispersed. “The focus has been about the defendant in this trial and you have only heard his view of Holly,” the judge said.
Trussler stepped out of the public gallery and described how her “beautiful child” had loved her family, sport, animals and dancing. She said: “She grew into a happy teenager who would do anything for anyone.
“At school Holly was a quiet student who just got on with her work. There was never a bad report from her teachers.
“When Holly started at the Queen Elizabeth high school in Hexham she felt like she belonged, she had such a tight-knit group of friends who were always there for each other.”
Holly’s cat Maxi miaowed every morning to be let into her room, Trussler said. “To this day, Maxi still does this; however, Holly isn’t there to open the door.”
The boy will be sentenced at a two-day hearing at Newcastle crown court scheduled for 31 October.
