Thanks for trying to save my stabbed girl, mum tells boyfriend
THE mother of a ‘ truly lovely’ schoolgirl stabbed to death in a quiet country town says she can never thank her daughter’s boyfriend enough ‘for trying to save my baby girl’.
Keen dancer Holly Newton, 15, died from knife wounds after she and her boyfriend, 16, were attacked in Hexham, Northumberland, on Friday afternoon.
A 16-year-old boy was yesterday charged with her murder and attempted murder of the boy. He is due to appear at Newcastle Magistrates’ Court this morning.
Yesterday, Holly’s mother Micala Trussler responded to a Facebook post from the injured boy’s older brother, saying: ‘Holly was so excited about her new relationship with your brother! I can never thank him enough for trying to save my baby girl.’
A member of the injured boy’s family said he was recovering in hospital following a two-and-a-half hour operation on Saturday. They said: ‘It’s so tragic Holly died that way. It seems like he did his best to protect her.’
Among those laying flowers yesterday at the scene was a worker at a pizza shop next to the alley where the stabbing took place.
The man, who did not want to be named, told how the wounded boy had gone into the shop with a neck injury, pleading for help. ‘I tried to save her but failed,’ he said.
One local, who wished to remain anonymous, said: ‘I was sitting across the road and the police were on the scene immediately. They had a lad cuffed and put him in the van and then two ambulances came.’
A message on flowers left at the scene by Holly’s mother and stepfather Lee Trussler reads: ‘To our baby Holly, our hearts hurt so much right now. We love you so much.’ Mrs Trussler, 33, a hospitality manager, from nearby Haltwhistle, was too upset to comment.
Holly was a pupil at Queen Elizabeth High School, in Hexham. It said: ‘We are devastated at the loss of Holly, a truly lovely student who was quiet, conscientious, helpful and kind.’
Kerry Whitfield, owner of Lightning Dance Academy in Consett which Holly attended, said: ‘It’s such a shock. Holly was at a dance practice on Thursday night. She was a lovely girl, always helpful in class with a great sense of humour.’
In 2021, Hexham was named the happiest place to live in the UK by property website Rightmove.