Murder-accused boy retracts angry stabbing admission

Holly Newton was killed in Hexham in January 2023

A teenager who earlier said he stabbed a girl because he was "angry" at her has now said that admission was a lie, a court has heard.

Holly Newton, 15, was stabbed multiple times in an alleyway in Hexham in January 2023 by a boy she had said was "stalking" her, Newcastle Crown Court has heard.

A 17-year-old boy, who was 16 at the time and cannot be identified, has admitted manslaughter but denies murder.

On his ninth day giving evidence, the boy told the court he "probably" intended to attack Holly but later claimed he said that because he was "sick" of the trial and wanted it "over and done with".

The boy had followed Holly for the best part of an hour after she left school with friends on 27 January 2023, the court has heard.

He claimed he was trying to walk by Holly to get to the bus station but she recognised him and started being "horrible" to him as she was "really annoyed" he was there.

She then followed him into an alley beside Pizza Pizza on Priestpopple where the boy attacked her with the knife which had an 8cm (3in) long blade, jurors have heard.

The youth, who has been diagnosed with autism, previously told the court his mind was "blank" during the minute-long stabbing, but he believed he was trying to hurt himself, not Holly.

The boy (in the red box) followed Holly (in the yellow frame) for almost an hour

But on the fifth day of his cross-examination by prosecutor David Brooke KC, the boy said it was "true" he was "angry" with Holly when he attacked her.

Mr Brooke asked if the boy was angry Holly had been "horrible" to him, to which the youth replied: "Yes probably."

"I'm saying that actually you did hurt Holly and you did that deliberately because you were angry," Mr Brooke said.

An intermediary assisting the boy clarified he understood the prosecutor meant the attack on Holly was "on purpose" because he was angry.

Having shown he understood, the youth said "probably", and when asked by Mr Brooke if that meant yes, the boy said: "Yes."

When he was being arrested, he told police officers he had meant to kill himself but "it went too far", the court heard.

Mr Brooke said: "Is that what happened? You may have gone thinking about killing yourself but when she was horrible to you it went too far, you hurt her instead?"

The boy replied: "Yes."

The killer's knife snapped during the attack

In re-examination by his barrister Nigel Edwards KC, the boy said he lied to Mr Brooke as it was "getting to the point" where he was "saying yes" and "agreeing with stuff".

He said he was "genuinely just sick" of the trial, which has run for more than three weeks, and he had originally wanted to "go guilty to murder" until it was explained to him what the charge meant.

The boy said he wanted the trial "over and done with" and he had "just kind of given up" on it and "fighting for the truth".

He told Mr Edwards he did stab Holly but he had not intended to hurt her, adding he made the admissions because he wanted the "worst punishment" as there was "nothing" outside of custody for him.

The youth said he had said what he thought the prosecution wanted to hear, but insisted he was not angry when he killed Holly.

He said if he had been angry it would have been visible on the CCTV footage leading up to the attack, adding he "would have genuinely showed it".

'Never wanted to'

Earlier, Mr Brooke had said Holly sustained multiple stab injuries to her head, back, face and hands.

He said according to witnesses, the boy was on top of Holly stabbing her repeatedly, and after being pulled away from her once, returned to carry on the attack.

"Were you trying to hurt Holly?" Mr Brooke asked.

The boy replied he "never wanted to".

Mr Brooke said the tip of the knife bent before the blade snapped off during the attack.

"Are you sure you weren't trying to hurt Holly?" Mr Brooke asked again.

The boy replied: "I don't think so."

'Just too close'

Mr Brooke asked several more questions about the attack but the boy said he "genuinely [did] not know" the answers as he could not remember what happened.

He said he had pulled the knife from his coat pocket to hurt himself but Holly was, he supposed, "just too close" to him.

Mr Brooke asked the boy if he had suffered any injuries from the knife, to which he replied: "No I don't think so."

A pathologist told the court Holly had 36 knife injuries including 12 stab wounds, one of which caused fatal internal bleeding.

The court has heard another teenage boy initially ran into the alley and tried to pull the attacker away but ended up getting stabbed four times.

The defendant, who denies wounding the boy, has accepted he caused the injuries but said he could not remember the altercation.

The attack ended when two men finally pulled the attacker away from Holly, who was lying on her back on the ground, the court has heard.

The trial continues.