Boy found guilty of murder of 15-year-old Holly Newton

A teenage boy has been found guilty of the murder of 15-year-old schoolgirl Holly Newton.

Holly, who was from Haltwhistle, died in hospital after suffering fatal stab wounds in Hexham in January 2023.

The 17-year-old defendant, who cannot be named because of his age, had admitted killing Holly and being in possession of a knife but denied murdering Holly and the unlawful wounding of another teenager.

In court, he claimed he did not intend to hurt Holly and had intended to instead hurt himself with the knife.

However, following a six-week trial at Newcastle Crown Court, the jury came to a verdict of guilty of murder, also finding him guilty of another charge of wounding with intent.

The youth will be sentenced on 31 October.

Holly's mum Micala Trussler read a statement aloud about her daughter to the courtroom.

She said: "Holly was a beautiful child. She was my firstborn, a clingy child who never left my side. She grew into a funny and happy teenager who would do anything for anyone."

She added: "She fell in love with dancing, it gave her an opportunity to express herself and helped her self confidence enormously, it genuinely made her feel fearless."

She also read a statement outside Court, saying: "As a family, it has been extremely painful to have to sit through a lengthy trial and reach this point. To think that Holly should have been getting her GCSE results last week but instead, our baby girl's future was cruelly taken away from us.

"We are grateful to the many people who have shown their support as we continue to navigate a life without Holly in it."

Holly's mother, Micala Trussler, speaks outside Court following the verdict.

Area Commander for Northumberland, Chief Superintendent Sam Rennison, of Northumbria Police, said: “The investigation team have worked tirelessly to bring the person responsible to justice.

“Thanks to their hard work and dedication, as well as continued support from the local community, the weight of evidence against the offender was so overwhelming that a jury has found him guilty of all charges

“His life and those of his loved one have also been changed forever by the decisions he made that night.

“Violence has absolutely no place in society – and as a Force we are committed to working with our partners to tackle such offending.

“However, each and every one of us has a role to play – and we must all come together to help prevent violence and knife crime.

“This includes continuing to educate our young people and talking to them about the pain and suffering caused by violence.”

Following the verdict, Lynsey Colling, Head of the Crown Court Unit for CPS North East, said: “The killing of Holly Newton has been utterly devastating for her family and our focus throughout this case has been to ensure that the person responsible was brought to justice for his actions.

“A significant challenge for us in the early stages of the case was to establish the defendant’s fitness to plead, which had been raised as an issue by the defence. The Crown instructed specialist psychologists, whose independent assessments persuaded the court that the defendant did, in fact, have the capacity to enter pleas and to stand trial for the allegations made against him”

"Today’s outcome is the result of effective partnership working between the Crown Prosecution Service and Northumbria Police from the very early stages of this investigation.

“Our thoughts remain with Holly’s family, for whom this remains a particularly difficult time, and we only hope that Holly’s family can take some measure of comfort in seeing her killer brought to justice.”

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