Killer guilty of stabbing Hexham teen to death
Holly Newton was left with 36 stab wounds after an attack in January 2023
Last updated 29th Aug 2024
A 17-year-old boy has been found guilty of the murder of schoolgirl Holly Newton in Hexham.
15-year-old Holly suffered 36 knife wounds when she was attacked in January 2023.
Her killer followed her in Hexham and Holly had reported feeling stalked by him in the hours before she died.
Jurors at Newcastle Crown Court have heard during the trial that members of the public pulled the teen off Holly while he was still stabbing her and restrained him but by then she was fatally wounded.
A boy she was with had also suffered knife wounds while trying to stop him.
There were 36 injuries to Holly caused by the knife - 12 were stab wounds. Nineteen others were caused by a more slashing motion and five were defensive injuries to her hands.
Despite being rushed by ambulance to the RVI in Newcastle Holly was pronounced dead shortly after her arrival.
What happened in the Holly Newton court case?
During the case the defendant, now 17, admitted manslaughter but denied murder, claiming his mind went blank that day and that he had only intended to take his own life.
The prosecution claimed the defendant, who cannot be identified due to his age, followed Holly around the town centre for about 45 minutes as she visited shops with friends after the group had finished school for the day.
Holly had told a friend just hours before he stabbed her that the youth was “basically stalking her”, jurors heard.
The boy asked to speak to her after he saw her outside a pizza shop, then attacked her with a knife he was carrying.
The defendant also stabbed a teenage boy Holly was with that day, before members of the public tried to intervene, the court was told.
Giving evidence by video link, the boy told jurors he could not remember stabbing the girl but recalled getting a bus to Hexham and some parts of walking around the town.
Nigel Edwards KC, defending, asked him: “The night that Holly died, when you go to Hexham, what is it you want to do?”
The defendant replied: “It wasn’t for going there to hurt her or kill her, it wasn’t for that.”
Asked what he had wanted to happen that day, he added: “To try and take my own life.”
As well as denying murder, the youth further denies causing wounding with intent on Holly’s friend, and an alternative charge of wounding.
He will be sentenced during a two-day hearing at the same court on October 31.