Killer 'probably lied' to girl about location

Holly Newton was killed in Hexham in January 2023

A teenager accused of murdering a 15-year-old girl told jurors he "probably" lied to her about his location before the attack as he knew she didn't want to see him.

Holly Newton feared the boy may have been waiting for her when she left school in Hexham, but felt assured when he said he was in Newcastle, the city's crown court heard.

But he was, in fact, in Hexham where he secretly followed her before repeatedly stabbing her, the court has heard.

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

The court has heard Holly told friends the boy was "stalking" her and her mother had arranged a meeting with police to discuss her concerns about him after he showed up uninvited outside their home in Haltwhistle.

Holly was killed at about 17:00 GMT on 27 January 2023, hours before that meeting was due to take place, the jury has been told.

Jurors have seen CCTV footage of the boy (in the red square) following Holly (in the yellow frame)

Holly had gone into Hexham after school believing the boy was 23 miles (37km) away in Newcastle, the court previously heard.

Under questioning from prosecutor David Brooke KC, the boy admitted sending messages in which he said he was in Newcastle when really he was in a park in Hexham.

The boy told the court he had gone to Hexham to speak to Holly, who lived in Haltwhistle, but changed his mind several times about whether to see her or not.

Mr Brooke asked the boy if he knew Holly did not want to see him, to which the youth replied: "Yeah I suppose."

Judge Mr Justice Hilliard asked the youth, who has autism, if he was lying about his location or if he was confused and thought he might actually have been in Newcastle.

"I think it probably might have been a lie, I'm not sure" the boy replied.

The judge asked the youth if had been "deliberately pretending" to be in Newcastle, to which the boy replied: "I'm not sure, I probably was pretending."

The knife broke during the attack on Holly

Jurors have seen CCTV footage of the youth following Holly for about 45 minutes before she spotted and spoke to him outside Pizza Pizza on Priestpopple.

The youth told jurors he had been wanting to walk past Holly to head home, but she saw him and spoke to him first.

They ended up in an alley where he repeatedly stabbed her with a kitchen knife he had brought from home, the trial has heard.

During the attack, which left Holly with 36 knife injuries, the blade snapped.

The accused has claimed his mind went "blank" during the stabbing and he was trying to kill himself with no intention to hurt Holly.

He also denies wounding another youth who tried to stop the attack.

The trial continues.