Dressed in black, his face covered, the killer of a schoolgirl prowled around a car park in pursuit of his victim, intent on murder.
Disturbing new CCTV footage seen for the first time today shows Logan MacPhail’s secret, silent pursuit of Holly Newton. Now that the obsessive stalker has been sentenced, police have released chilling footage of the 16-year-old hiding in the Tesco car park as she went shopping with friends. Holly, 15, who had just ended her 18-month relationship with ‘jealous, controlling’ MacPhail, is captured innocently chatting with her friends as they make their way into Hexham, Northumberland after school.
MacPhail is seen trailing her at a distance, hiding in doorways with his face covered in a black ski snood, and prowling around the Tesco car park in Hexham as Holly strolls and shops inside. MacPhail, ducking in doorways to avoid being seen by Holly, was sending voice notes to her friends, telling them that he was in Newcastle.
In reality, he had made a 90-minute bus journey from his school in Gateshead to follow her around Hexham for more than an hour before the murder on Jan 27 last year. Holly is also seen chatting to her killer at a bus stop near a takeaway before MacPhail persuades her to walk down an alleyway with him where he launches the frenzied knife attack, inflicting the 36 knife injuries, including defence injuries to her hands.
Newcastle crown court heard that the blows were so fierce that the six-inch kitchen knife broke during the course of the attack. In bodycam footage taken by police officers, MacPhail tells one officer that he cannot remember his birthday. Later, when told he is being arrested on suspicion of murder, he asks cops: “Is she dead?”, showing the complete lack of emotion displayed throughout his police interviews.
Holly’s mother Michala Trussler told of her ‘indescribable pain’ after she was unable to say goodbye to her daughter in hospital because the murder meant Holly was treated like ‘evidence’. In a moving victim impact statement, she said: “Watching the CCTV as he arrived in Hexham and put on the face covering taking a route along back streets shows me that he knew exactly what he was doing, his sole focus was to find Holly.
“It chills me to the core watching him hiding in trolley parks and doorways waiting for her, she was blissfully unaware that he was there. He knew exactly what he intended to do, he didn’t even have any of her belongings with him to return to her which is the excuse he has tried to use. During the trial Holly has been portrayed by him to be a nasty, unfaithful girlfriend who had multiple boyfriends.”
“This could not be further from the truth. Holly was a quiet girl who loved her dancing and found talking to people she didn’t know awkward. She had a strong sense of what was right and wrong. She was only 13 years old when she met Logan at cadets and had never had a boyfriend before. Listening to Logan giving evidence was like listening to his ultimate fantasy.
“He wants to believe that inside that alleyway Holly pulled him towards her and told him that she loved him, I do not believe for one second that happened.The only time I believe Logan has spoken the truth was when he admitted that he hurt Holly out of anger because she had not been nice to him, he rarely shows emotion, and this further confirmed to me that he was being truthful at that point.”
She added: “If Logan had told the truth from the start he could have saved our family having to go through the trauma of a trial and be able to grieve for Holly sooner. The trial process has taken an enormous amount of strength and composure from our family. Having to sit through months of listening to various professionals who claimed to have assessed Logan as being unfit to stand trial has been extremely hard to digest.
“They have made too many allowances for him in this process and at times it has become farcical watching his attempted defence unfold. I understand that the court process has to be fair, but my daughter cannot be afforded this courtesy because of his actions and his actions alone.”
Judge Mr Justice Hilliard thanked her for her statement. Now 17, MacPhail, of Birtley, Gateshead, was named after the reporting restrictions to protect minors were lifted. He was found guilty of murder and wounding with intent to cause serious harm to a boy of 16, who tried to save Holly’s life. Mr Justice Hilliard said that a more mature person may have been able to handle the jealousy which he felt at the end of their relationship.
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