Teenager guilty of murdering Holly Newton, 15

Holly Newton was stabbed hours before a scheduled meeting with police to discuss her family's concerns about the killer

A 17-year-old boy has been found guilty of murdering Holly Newton, 15, who was stabbed to death in January 2023.

Holly had complained about the boy "stalking" her hours before she was repeatedly knifed in an alleyway in Hexham, Northumberland.

The boy, who was 16 at the time and cannot be identified, had admitted manslaughter but denied murder ahead of the trial at Newcastle Crown Court.

Speaking to the BBC, Holly's mum Micala Trussler said: "He has ruined our lives and he took Holly's."

The jury also found the youth guilty of wounding with intent a second victim who came to Holly's aid.

Sentencing will take place at a two-day hearing at the same court beginning on 31 October.

The boy, who was diagnosed with autism, initially told the court his mind was "blank" at the time of the attack and he was, in fact, trying to kill himself.

He then admitted he attacked her out of anger, before backtracking and claiming he never intended to hurt her.

The killer (in the red box) followed Holly (in the yellow frame) for almost an hour before killing her

Following the verdict, the judge, Mr Justice Hilliard, invited Ms Trussler to address jury members.

He said: "The focus has been about the defendant in this trial and you have only heard his view of Holly.

"Before you depart, I wanted you to have a more complete understanding of her and what she was like."

'Holly isn't there'

Stepping out from the public gallery, Holly's mum described how her "beautiful child" loved her family, sport, animals and dancing.

She said the pupil at Hexham's Queen Elizabeth High School "grew into a happy teenager who would do anything for anyone".

She added: "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 school], she felt like she belonged. She had such a tight-knit group of friends who were always there for each other."

Ms Trussler told the court how Holly's cat Maxi miaowed every morning to be let into her room.

"To this day, Maxi still does this. However, Holly isn't there to open the door."

Later, outside court, Ms Trussler said: "To think that Holly should have been collecting her GCSE exam results last week, but instead our baby girl's future was cruelly taken away from her."

Holly was murdered in an attack in an alleyway in Hexham

The defendant, who had been watching proceedings from a secure unit via videolink, did not visibly react when the jury foreman delivered the guilty verdicts.

The trial heard the killer followed Holly after she left school on 27 January 2023, before stabbing her in an alley beside a pizza shop at about 17:00 BST.

Holly suffered 36 knife injuries and the blade snapped during the minute-long assault, which only came to an end when two passers-by pulled the boy away.

Another boy who tried to wrestle the killer off Holly was stabbed four times in the leg and shoulder.

'Biggest mistake'

Ms Trussler had arranged a meeting with police for that evening to discuss her concerns for Holly's safety after the boy turned up uninvited at their home in Haltwhistle the night before.

She told the BBC Holly "begged" her to let her go into town after school on the day of her murder rather than come home to see the police, so the meeting was rescheduled for later that evening.

"In the end, the biggest mistake of my life," she said.

Micala Trussler described her daughter as a "beautiful child"

Ms Trussler described how she felt like she was "frozen" while the "whole world moved around" her.

"You look at people and think 'how can you carry on with your life, my daughter's died?'

"But life does have to go on. What else are you meant to do?"

The girl's step-father Lee Trussler said he was "haunted" by her death.

After tracking Holly round Hexham, the boy made himself known to her near a pizza shop

Outside court, Lynsey Colling of the Crown Prosecution Service North East said the organisation faced a "significant challenge" in the early stages of the case to establish the defendant's fitness to plead, which had been raised as an issue by the defence.

Psychologists provided independent assessments that persuaded the court the boy did have the capacity to enter pleas and to stand trial, she said.