Katie Kenyon funeral: when was Burnley mum’s service - and what has Andrew Burfield been charged with?

Hundreds of mourners turned out to pay their respects to a mum-of-two whose body was found in a forest a week after she went missing.

Mourners wore purple to celebrate the life of Katie Kenyon at her funeral service.

The 33-year-old woman had been reported missing on 22 April after last being seen getting into a Ford Transit van in Burnley.

Her body was found after search teams sourced the Forest of Bowland area.

Andrew Burfield, 50, appeared in court charged with her murder and faces trial in November.

When did Katie’s funeral take place?

On Friday, more than 200 people gathered in her home town of Padiham, Lancashire, to pay their respects to Ms Kenyon, 33, whose body was found within the Forest of Bowland a week after she went missing.

Her family asked those attending proceedings at St Leonard’s Church to wear her favourite colour or any colourful.

A carriage, drawn by two white horses adorned with purple plumes, led the cortege to the church.

On top of the carriage were floral tributes to “Katie” and “Mum”.

Purple balloons were also attached outside the town centre church.

A private burial service was to follow.

When was Katie last seen?

Police say at about 9.30am on Friday a woman matching Kenyon’s description left an address on Todmorden Road, Burnley with a man and travelled in a silver Ford Transit, registration MT57 FLC, to the Bolton by Bowland area of north Lancashire.

Her white Ford Fiesta was dropped off at a house in Todmorden Road in Burnley with her belongings, her family said.

More than 60 specialist search officers from four police forces scoured a rural beauty spot in Lancashire for her.

Her body was found after search teams sourced the Forest of Bowland area.

A post-mortem examination carried out on the body confirmed that the woman had died from head injuries.

The hunt involved search dogs and a plane, and was focused on the dense Gisburn Forest in the Ribble Valley, said to be the largest wooded area in the county – measuring more than 1,200 hectares (2,965 acres, or more than 4.6 square miles) – and popular with walkers and cyclists.

Officers from the Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside and North Wales police forces combed the area, assisted by Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service and the Bowland Pennine Mountain Rescue Team.

What happened during the court hearing?

Burfield, of Todmorden Road, Burnley, appeared in court last month and spoke only to confirm his identity during the seven-minute hearing at Preston Crown Court

Judge Simon Medland QC told the defendant: “The trial then is 14th of November of this year. You are remanded in custody.”