Mum calls for domestic abuse education for young after murder of Holly Newton by 'controlling' ex

Holly Newton's mother Micala Trussler told Good Morning Britain that her daughter could have accessed support if she was recognised as a victim of domestic abuse

The mother of a teenager who was murdered by her ex-boyfriend has called for domestic abuse education to be extended to young people.

Holly Newton was stabbed to death in an alleyway in Hexham, Northumberland, by Logan MacPhail in January 2023 after he would not accept that their 18-month relationship had come to an end.

Because she was only 15 at the time of her death, Holly was not treated as a victim of domestic abuse and no domestic homicide review took place.

The schoolgirl's mother Micala Trussler is campaigning for this to change - and has turned her sights to calling for the introduction of education on healthy relationships in schools.

Speaking to ITV's Good Morning Britain on Tuesday (12 November), she said: "If it had been recognised as domestic abuse, Holly would've been educated on the signs more.

"When they're educating children in school, they're not educating them on the signs of an unhealthy relationship between a girlfriend and a boyfriend.

"Children, educational establishments and parents need more education on this."

Mrs Trussler said the family were aware of signs of trouble between her daughter and MacPhail.

"In the beginning, I think it was concerns because they were both quite young - but nothing out of the ordinary at first," she continued. "It wasn't until about a week or so before she was murdered that we had our concerns.

"We realised that Holly was being controlled. He'd made comments about not wanting her to go out with her friends, he was messaging Holly's sibling - he needed to know where she was and who she was with."

Holly's family say MacPhail's behaviour represented coercive control and domestic abuse and Mrs Trussler discussed the relationship with Holly.

"Holly had been trying to break off the relationship for some time before, but that's when we found out he'd been making threats to kill himself if she was to do that," she explained.

The family contacted police with concerns about his behaviour after he appeared at their home in Haltwhistle the night before her murder.

"He was trying to get into the house," she said. "He'd been messaging Holly's sibling, asking him to open the window, to come down and open the door.

"Luckily my son's sensible enough not to have done that. We didn't know anything about that, we were in bed."

He was taken away by the police in the early hours of the morning but later that day, MacPhail travelled from his home town of Gateshead to Hexham.

Once there, he followed Holly for about an hour as she walked through the town after school with her friends before launching his frenzied and fatal attack in an alleyway.

"None of us expected that to happen," Mrs Trussler said. "We knew his behaviour wasn't normal but nobody expected him to go and do that.

"If anything, we were more concerned that he would do that to himself, because he'd threatened that."

MacPhail was convicted of murder following a trial and was detained for life with a minimum term of 17 years.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said earlier this month that she will consider how laws on domestic violence apply to victims under 16.

A government spokesperson on Tuesday said: “All children deserve to grow up in a safe environment, and our thoughts remain with Holly Newton’s loved ones after her horrific murder.

“The government has set out a mission to halve violence against women and girls within a decade, and schools should feel empowered to support educators in teaching about this issue.

“The current compulsory relationships, sex and health education curriculum teaches pupils about healthy and unhealthy relationships, including domestic abuse.”

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