Yvette Cooper to look at domestic violence laws around under 16s after Holly Newton murder
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has said she will consider how laws on domestic violence apply to victims under 16, in response to the case of Holly Newton, who was killed by her ex-boyfriend.
Logan MacPhail tracked his ex-girlfriend Holly around Hexham, Northumberland, just days after their relationship ended. He then stabbed her to death in a back alley in the town in January 2023.
The family of Holly, from Haltwhistle, say the 15-year-old's killer was "controlling" and want the offence, recorded as knife crime, to be classified as domestic violence.
On Monday morning (4 November), Ms Cooper told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “This is a really serious issue, and I have all sympathy with Holly’s family. I can’t imagine what they will have gone through. This was a truly awful case.
“Of course, there is domestic abuse in teenage relationships. There is violence within teenage relationships that we have seen increasing, and it really troubles me that we have seen it increasing.”
Asked about calls from Holly’s parents to change the law so that under-16s can be considered victims of domestic abuse, the politician said: “We will particularly, specifically look at this, because we need to make sure that we have got the right ways of recording this kind of violence in teenage relationships.”
Micala Trussler, Holly's mother, previously told the BBC: "Because he [was] 16, he’s at the age where he can be in an abusive relationship but because she was only 15, it goes down as knife crime, so it goes in that category which I don’t personally think it should sit.
"The only connection it’s got is that fact he’s killed her with a knife but, in all honesty, I think he would have killed her with anything just so she couldn’t be with anyone else, because it was all about control, obsession and passion."
Micala Trussler said she believes under 16s can be the victims of domestic abuse, as demonstrated in the relationship between her daughter and MacPhail
MacPhail stabbed Holly 36 times in an alleyway after he stalked her through the town centre of Hexham on 27 January 2023.
A jury heard this summer how MacPhail, who has autism and learning difficulties, could not accept that their 18-month relationship was over.
The night before he murdered Holly, he travelled 40 miles from his home in Gateshead to hers in Haltwhistle, Northumberland, where he hung around for hours.
MacPhail was eventually taken home by police who had been alerted by his mother that he was missing.
Holly’s mother, Mrs Trussler, was concerned enough to contact the police and arranged to speak to an officer about MacPhail’s behaviour the next afternoon.
That same afternoon, MacPhail stabbed Holly to death.
MacPhail was convicted of murder, as well as wounding with intent on a boy who stepped in to try to stop the attack.
MacPhail, who met Holly when they both attended Army cadets, claimed he never planned to attack her but wanted to use the knife to kill himself.
MacPhail denied murder but admitted manslaughter, claiming he blacked out, but his story was rejected by the jury.
Sentencing the defendant to detention for life with a minimum term of 17 years, Mr Justice Hilliard said: “The stark facts are that you made a conscious decision to stab a 15-year-old girl to death with a knife that you were carrying unlawfully in a public place having followed her secretly around town for an hour, all because your relationship with her had ended.
“You were jealous of the fact she might see someone else.
“What happened in this case should not happen to any child or any parent.”
Mrs Trussler has since described MacPhail's relationship with her daughter as "controlling".
Holly Newton's mother Micala Trussler describes the controlling nature of Logan MacPhail during and after his relationship with her daughter
"He didn't want her to go out with her friends," she told the BBC. "He needed to know where she was all the time. Even if she was just at home he needed to know what she was doing."
Concerned for her daughter, Mrs Trussler changed Holly's social media passwords and formed the idea he had become obsessed with her.
"For a long time he was obsessed with her, but I don't think we quite knew how obsessed until his behaviour changed," she continued.
"He definitely felt if he couldn't have her then nobody could. He'd said that to her at one point cause she'd told me...but what we didn't know is he meant it."
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Our thoughts remain with Holly Newton’s loved ones after her horrific murder.
“This new government’s mission is clear - to halve violence against women and girls in a decade. As part of this, we will be looking closely at how we can intervene at the earliest opportunity to protect girls when children present such harmful behaviours.”
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