Boy tells murder trial he stabbed Holly Newton in Hexham

A teenage boy accused of murdering a 15-year-old girl has told jurors he did stab her.

Holly Newton was stabbed multiple times in an alleyway in Hexham, Northumberland, in January 2023 by a boy who she claimed had been “stalking” her, Newcastle Crown Court has heard.

A 17-year-old youth, who was 16 at the time and cannot be identified, has admitted manslaughter but denies murder.

He told the court he could not remember the attack.

Prosecutors said the boy followed Holly for about 45 minutes after she left school on 27 January 2023, before attacking her in an alleyway next to a pizza shop at about 17:00 GMT.

Appearing via videolink from the unit where he is being held, the boy was asked by his barrister Nigel Edwards KC who stabbed Holly.

“Me,” the youth replied, adding he also stabbed another youth who was trying to break up the assault, although he has also denied wounding offences.

“Do you remember that happening?” Mr Edwards asked.

The boy, who the court heard has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, replied: “No.”

The boy told the court he had been abused as a child, self-harmed and attempted suicide on multiple occasions.

Mr Edwards asked the boy what he wanted to do in Hexham the day Holly was killed.

“I wasn’t going there to hurt her or kill her,” the boy replied.

When asked what he wanted to happen that day, the boy said he was going to “try and take my own life again”.

The boy told the court he was an avid computer gamer and “got used” to being in virtual reality and “started thinking [he] was not in the real world”.

He said people would come back to life after being killed in games which, coupled with his own failed suicide attempts, made him “probably start thinking you couldn’t really die”.

He said he had seen people “reset” after being attacked with knives and guns in video games.

The accused told the jury that when he was told a pet had died he “thought it was lies”, and when his grandfather died he believed he had just gone on holiday.

Since Holly’s killing, he said, he now understood what death was, adding: “[There’s] not really any way of coming back from it.”

Mr Edwards asked: “Did you want to kill Holly?”

The boy replied: “No.”

Jurors have previously heard he told police he had been trying to stab himself and his mind went “blank”.

On the morning of the attack, Holly had complained to friends that the boy was “stalking” her after he turned up uninvited at her home in Haltwhistle the night before.

Her mother had arranged a meeting with police about the boy, but Holly was killed hours before it was due to take place.

Holly had also been “nervous” of leaving school that day because she thought the boy may be outside waiting for her, but she walked into town after he lied about his location, the court has heard.

Jurors have been told the knife the boy had taken from his kitchen broke during the attack, which passers-by eventually managed to stop.

The trial continues.