'I didn't see domestic abuse signs until it was too late'

Even with her own experience of being a survivor of teenage domestic abuse, Micala Trussler did not realise her 15-year-old daughter was going through the same until it was too late. That, she says, is why education is so crucial.

Holly Newton did not realise her boyfriend was domestically abusing her.

It was only after she had been murdered by her jealous ex that her family found out the true extent of what had been going on.

The 15-year-old was killed three years ago today, stabbed to death in an alleyway in Hexham, Northumberland, by 16-year-old Logan MacPhail.

In the aftermath, her family discovered MacPhail had been trying to control her - he did not want Holly to have any other friends, was constantly ringing her and had threatened to kill himself if she ended the relationship.

They were symptoms that were horribly familiar to Holly's mother Micala, who was domestically abused herself when she was a teenager.

"It's obviously very difficult because it happened to me but I never expected it to happen to my own child," Micala says.

"I didn't know it was happening to Holly because she didn't realise herself.

"She hadn't been educated about it.

"And it wasn't until after she died we realised the true extent."

Although it is too late for her daughter, Micala hopes that sharing her own experience will help others recognise the signs.

"I just thought that everything that was going on was because he loved me," she says.

"It wasn't until I was being physically abused that I realised that wasn't right, simply because I knew that nobody should be violent.

"I was aware of that, what I wasn't aware of was the likes of emotional abuse and coercive control and financial abuse, that sort of thing."

Micala was able to escape when she was taken to a women's refuge by police.

Neither she back then nor Holly in 2023 were old enough to be legally classed as victims of domestic abuse by a partner.

"There was very little support for adults back then, so for somebody under 18, there was absolutely no support," says Micala of her teenage experience.

"So that's why it's so important for support to be put into place for not just under 18s but under 16s as well, so they don't feel alone and they feel like there's somewhere they can turn and not be turned away because of what the law states."

Micala is campaigning for the creation Holly's Law, which would see under 16s acknowledged as victims of domestic abuse.

Without that, she says, young people cannot access the right support or education as well as the appropriate response from the police and legal system.

"I can't protect Holly anymore, it's about protecting other people," Micala says, adding: "And stopping families going through the same thing we went through."

Days before the third anniversary of her daughter's murder, Micala was invited to the Home Office to meet Jess Phillips, the Minister for Violence against Women and Girls, and Labour MP for Hexham Joe Morris.

"It was really good to talk to Jess Phillips," Micala says, adding: "I feel like Holly has been thought of and I am being heard.

"It's just going to take a long time - and we understand that - to put the right measures in place to get this law right and for it to work.

"We can put Holly's Law in place but then we need all the little things to work alongside it.

"Like the agencies, where the support is going to come from and how we are going to deal with victims."

Morris said the government was keen to make sure the right lessons were learned so young people were not left to put up with the existing "appalling system".

He said: "It's an incredibly important issue in terms of how we best support young people in relationships and making sure that those relationships and deaths like Holly's are counted and are accounted for properly - we recognise the scale of the problem we have in society today."

Phillips said the government would "continue to listen" to families' concerns "as we strengthen the response to teenage relationship abuse".

She said the Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy, published in December, would "use the full power of the state to keep girls safer" and included a "raft of measures to tackle abuse in teenage relationships".

The measures included "targeted interventions" in schools, behaviour change programmes, improved guidance for professionals and a dedicated helpline for young people "worried about their behaviour".

Micala's fight will also continue.

"I think domestic abuse is a pandemic now, things aren't getting any easier.

"It's almost like I was brought into this world to campaign for this and to help other people, simply because of how young I was when it happened to me.

"It's happened to my daughter, so I feel like I have a purpose here."

• If you have been affected by the issues in this report, information and support are available at BBC Action Line.

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