Holly was 'domestic abuse' victim

THE family of murder victim Holly Newton have said the schoolgirl suffered domestic abuse at the hands of her obsessed ex-boyfriend.

- Stephen Beech

They warned other parents to recognise "red flag" signs after Holly's killer, Logan MacPhail, was jailed for life yesterday and told he must spend at least 17 years behind bars.

MacPhail, then 16, was "filled with resentment and jealousy" after Holly, 15, broke up with him. He lured her into an alleyway where he knifed her 36 times.

Before launching the attack last January, he had stalked Holly and her friends through the streets of Hexham, Northumberland, after she finished school.

MacPhail, who stabbed Holly so savagely the knife broke, admitted manslaughter, but was found guilty of murder at Newcastle Crown Court of He was also convicted intentionally wounding a youth who tried to stop the attack.

Holly's mum, Micala Trussler, said MacPhail wanted to control everything her daughter did, but nobody recognised the warning signs until it was too late.

The night before the killing, MacPhail turned up uninvited at Holly's family home in Haltwhistle, before being taken away by police.

Tragically, Micala had arranged a meeting with officers to discuss her concerns about MacPhail for the afternoon of January 27.

But it was pushed back to the evening when Holly begged to be allowed to go out with her friends.

Her family say she should be legally recognised as a victim of an abusive partnership.