Obsessed ex-boyfriend Logan MacPhail unmasked as killer of schoolgirl Holly Newton, 15

A jilted boyfriend who stabbed schoolgirl ex Holly Newton to death as she shopped with friends in a market town can now be revealed as her obsessed ex-boyfriend.

Logan MacPhail, 17, was unable to accept the end of the relationship with Holly, 15, which began when they were in the army cadets together and relentlessly stalked her before launching has deadly attack in broad daylight.

The night before the murder he was found lurking outside her mother's home and police were called with officers taking him his home before making arrangements with Holly and her mum Micala Trussler to speak to them about how to deal with his obsessive behaviour.

Tragically, he murdered her before the meeting with Northumbria Police officers could take place.

MacPhail was convicted of murder in August after a month-long trial and is due to be sentenced at the end of this month.

However, in an unusual ruling, trial judge Mr Justice Hilliard has agreed to lift the anonymity usually afforded to minors in court, citing the public interest in a horrific knife crime which shocked the usually tranquil town of Hexham, Northumberland, in January last year.

MacPhail had feigned illness to leave school early and then travelled 40 miles from his home in Birtley, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, to Hexham, a journey which meant taking two buses.

For 45 minutes he followed Holly, a friend and a teenage boy, who cannot be named, through the streets of Hexham.

Chilling footage released today by police showed the killer, who was wearing a mask and baseball cap, approach Holly as she glanced atr her phone whilst standing by a bus stop.

Choosing his moment, he ambushed her and pulled her into an alleyway beside a pizza shop where he caused her 36 injuries - stabbing her 12 times, slashing her 19 times, and causing five 'defensive' injuries in a frenzy which snapped the knife.

The teenage boy was also stabbed as he tried to defend her by grabbing MacPhail in a headlock.

Hours before the fatal ambush, Holly had sent a chilling message to her friend expressing fears about her ex.

She texted: “Apparently Logan is gonna meet me outside of school. So he's basically stalking me at this point.  He's gonna follow me until I talk to him”.

David Brooke, KC, told jurors of MacPhail's obsession, an account unable to be reported until now.

He said: "The evidence is that Logan MacPhail  was deeply unhappy that Holly Newton had split up with him. We say that Logan MacPhail deliberately went to Hexham to find her.

"We say that he followed Holly and (her boyfriend) around the town looking for an opportunity to speak to her alone because he was jealous of the new boy that Holly was with.

"It may well be that Holly was “horrible” to Logan MacPhail outside the pizza shop but that was because she did not want to see him. He would not accept that the relationship with Holly Newton was over. "

MacPhail attended Cedar College, Gateshead, a special school was described as having autism and special educational needs.

He and Holly were together for 18 months but a friend of Holly's branded the relationship "toxic." They split six days before the murder.

Police had arranged to speak with Holly and her mum at 4pm on the day of her death however Holly pleaded to go out after school and the meeting was rescheduled until 8pm, a decision which will always haunt her mum Micala Trussler.

She said: "In the end, [it was] the biggest mistake of my life. You look at people and think 'how can you carry on with your life? my daughter's died.'

In his judgement, Mr Justice Hilliard revealed why he had decided to allow MacPhail to be named the judge said: "There is great public concern about murders by young people who have carried knives in public places and about violence to women and girls.

“Legitimate debate is assisted by knowing who has committed such offences and their circumstances and the full detail of the offences in question."