Fifteen-year-old Holly Newton was murdered by her boyfriend at the end of their abusive relationship. With her killer in prison, her family and police say Holly’s story should serve as a warning to other young people.

Her mother, Micala Trussler, says she didn’t realize she was a victim of domestic violence until a few days before Holly’s death.

“I don’t think he understands what he’s doing,” he says. “Just checking is a form of abuse.”

Micala says Logan MacPhail was Holly’s “first and only boyfriend”; The couple met as army cadets and lived together for 18 months. “typical teenage” relationship.

He spent weekends with his family; There are videos of them singing and dancing together in Micala’s living room.

But when Holly decided she wanted to leave, MacPhail applied “emotional blackmail” by claiming he would hurt her and showing all the “classic” signs of domestic violence.

“He was obsessed with Holly,” says Micala. “If he couldn’t have her, no one could.”

MacPhail was 17 when he stabbed Holly to death in an alley in Hexham, Northumberland, in January 2023.

The attack was violent; MacPhail suffered 36 stab wounds during the minute-long frenzy.

He admitted during the murder trial that the relationship could be abusive and toxic.

Micala said MacPhail wanted to control Holly and needed to “know where she was at all times.”

But Holly didn’t see the problem until it was too late.

Micala wants and wants other young people to see the warning signs too Domestic abuse among young people will be legally recognized.

“I think we need to realize that young people are forming relationships at a much younger age,” he says.

His call was echoed by Annie (not her real name), who was 15 when she found herself in an abusive relationship.

“He wouldn’t let me wear what I wanted to wear. One time I went and got a haircut and he wasn’t happy about it either. He told me to put a bag over my head,” Annie said. “He’s in his 20s,” he says.

“Anything he could attack me for, my weight so I became anorexic, the shape of my skin was because I had eczema and he didn’t like that and made fun of it.

“If I wore too much makeup, not enough makeup, the color of my hair or anything.

“He would find ways to change me.”

Verbal abuse also turned violent when Annie broke her partner’s arm while she was pregnant.

Her boyfriend hid the abuse from Annie’s family, with whom the young couple lived, and it took a long time for Annie to realize what had really happened.

“I didn’t know it was wrong,” he says.

“I thought everyone was like that because it was my first real relationship, I’d never been with anyone before so I wasn’t aware of it and didn’t tell anyone.”

He is no longer with his partner and has received support from the Acorn Project in North Tyneside, which helps young people experiencing domestic violence.

Like Micala, they think the law on domestic abuse, which currently only classifies people aged 16 and over as victims of abusive relationships, should be reviewed.

“Because we don’t recognize this as domestic violence under the legal definition, we may not be recognizing the seriousness and seriousness of the problem,” says Acorns’ Kris Koth.

“Teenagers’ relationships are important to them; they are just as intense as adult relationships, but sometimes they don’t feel like their relationships are taken seriously.”

Kris warns there is a risk that abuse in young people’s relationships may not be seen as being as severe as in adult relationships, “even though we know that’s not true”.

Det Sgt Darren Davies said messages MacPhail sent to Holly clearly showed coercive behaviour.

“He would talk about the breakup and how he would hurt himself if she didn’t talk to him,” she says. “Luring people into their side as a sympathizer is a very common tactic of perpetrators.

“This couldn’t have been easy for a 15-year-old girl to hear, and Holly didn’t understand what it was.”

Det Sgt Davies adds that the prevalence of mobile phones and social media can make teenage relationships “more intense”.

“The biggest thing I took away from the case was the relationship these two had at that age,” he says.

“You realize how much more children communicate with each other, and how much more intense and involving those relationships are than I think most adults would probably appreciate.”

Society has a responsibility to help children navigate the complex world of relationships, she says, adding: “Talk to them and encourage healthy relationships and boundaries, show them what’s healthy and what’s not.”

A Home Office spokesman said the government’s “continued thoughts are with Holly Newton’s loved ones following her horrific murder”.

They said there was a “clear mission” to halve violence against women and girls within a decade.

“As part of this, we will look closely at how we can intervene at the earliest opportunity to protect girls if children exhibit such harmful behaviour,” the spokesperson said.