Teenager found guilty of murdering Holly Newton, 15, after following her for 45 minutes and stabbing her 12 times

The court previously heard Holly had told a friend just hours before being stabbed that the youth, then 16, was “basically stalking her”.

The boy had followed Holly and some friends around Hexham for approximately an hour prior to the attack, before persuading her to talk to him in an alley adjacent to a pizza shop.

He then stabbed her repeatedly with a kitchen knife he had brought from his home, stopping only when pulled from his victim by passers-by who had gone to her aid.

A 16-year-old boy who was with Holly at the time of the attack tried to help her and was also stabbed.

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.

He claimed he couldn't remember stabbing Holly, or the boy who came to her aid.

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But a jury at Newcastle Crown Court found him guilty of murder.

He will be sentenced during a two-day hearing at the same court on October 31.

Lynsey Colling, Head of the Crown Court Unit for CPS North East, said: “The killing of Holly Newton has been utterly devastating for her family and our focus throughout this case has been to ensure that the person responsible was brought to justice for his actions.

“A significant challenge for us in the early stages of the case was to establish the defendant’s fitness to plead, which had been raised as an issue by the defence.

"The Crown instructed specialist psychologists, whose independent assessments persuaded the court that the defendant did, in fact, have the capacity to enter pleas and to stand trial for the allegations made against him.

"Today’s outcome is the result of effective partnership working between the Crown Prosecution Service and Northumbria Police from the very early stages of this investigation.

“Our thoughts remain with Holly’s family, for whom this remains a particularly difficult time, and we only hope that Holly’s family can take some measure of comfort in seeing her killer brought to justice.”