Why do kids turn into killers?
Knife crime among teens is at an all-time high. Laura Whitmore explores this troubling epidemic
Crime+Investigation
- Radio Times Staff
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Holly Newton was only 15 when, in 2023, she was stabbed to death by her 16-year-old ex-boyfriend, Logan MacPhail. During their relationship, MacPhail had displayed coercive and controlling behaviour towards Holly that she was simply too young to identify – such as changing the passwords on her social media and bombarding her with text messages. When she eventually broke up with him, MacPhail began to stalk Holly, culminating in him luring her into an alleyway where he killed her.
Holly’s story is one of the many featured in my new series, Britain’s Killer Teens. Though I’m probably best known as an entertainment presenter on the likes of Love Island and I’m a Celebrity…, I started my career in a newsroom. I’m fascinated by the psychology behind extreme behaviours and previously made a film about incel culture. Britain’s Killer Teens is born of a desire to understand humanity’s darkest impulses, and a grim set of statistics: according to the Youth Endowment Fund, 99 16-to-24- year-olds were victims of homicide in 2022/23, a 14 per cent increase on the 2012/13 figure.
Why are more young people committing violent, serious crime?
Meanwhile, police now solve just one in ten crimes – compared to three in ten a decade ago – and the number of children referred to NHS mental health services in England has more than doubled since 2016/17, while fewer than half of that number accessed those services.
These figures are terrifying, particularly as I’m the parent of a young child. What world will my daughter grow up in? Who should we feel threatened by – surely not a harmless child? The big question we need to ask is why are more young people committing violent and serious crime? And, more importantly, are these situations preventable?
As the presenter and executive producer of Britain’s Killer Teens, I pursued answers to these questions and was involved in everything from interviews to final edit. The result, I believe, is a sober investigation into teen crime, featuring experts, child psychologists, reporters and even police officers who worked on some of the cases and who have never spoken publicly before.
Holly Newton. Crime+Investigation
Victims’ families trusted me with their stories, so I sat with Holly’s mother, Micala Trussler, who is working tirelessly to get the law changed to lower the age at which someone can be legally recognised as a victim of domestic abuse, specifically to include those under 16.
I also spoke to the family of Samantha Madgin, who was 18 when she was murdered in a senseless attack in 2007. Her sister Carly and mother Alison have set up Samantha’s Legacy to educate young people about the dangers of carrying knives. In 2022/23, boys accounted for 83 per cent of children cautioned or convicted for violent offences, 91 per cent of hospital admissions for knife assaults, and 87 per cent of homicide victims aged 16 to 24, while 82 per cent of homicides among teenage victims involved the use of a knife or sharp instrument.
The film also explores how digital technology has transformed teenage life and with it, the ways crime can affect or involve them. It’s not just about “online versions” of old crimes; technology has created new kinds of risks and blurred the line between online interaction and criminal activity. Children, I came to realise, are no longer safe indoors.
Samantha Madgin. Crime+Investigation
I learnt about teenagers like 18-year-old Brian Blackwell. Intelligent, with a bright future ahead, he harboured delusions of grandeur and concocted a fantasy life for himself. In 2004, he killed his parents and went on a holiday using their credit cards, leaving their bodies undiscovered for weeks. For every grieving family that is the embodiment of grace under duress, there is a disturbed predator determined to inflict damage on as many people as possible.
I filmed most of this series before Adolescence dropped on Netflix. But as I watched it, I was chilled by the similarities between that astonishing drama and the series I had made. In each of the six episodes, I explore a real teenage murder case in Britain. What Adolescence showed was how this dark, difficult and painful subject resonates with millions of people around the world.
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LAURA WHITMORE
Authors
Radio Times Staff
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