Andrew Burfield: man admits murder of Burnley mum Katie Kenyon - what was his sentence?

A “bully” who claimed he accidentally killed his ex-girlfriend when throwing an axe has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 32 years for her murder. Andrew Burfield, 51, changed his plea to admit the murder of mother-of-two Katie Kenyon, 33, on the third day of his trial at Preston Crown Court.

Miss Kenyon’s family appealed for others with concerns about controlling relationships to contact police following the sentencing of her killer Andrew Burfield, 51, who murdered and buried the mother-of-two in the Forest of Bowland, Lancashire, on 22 April.

He was re-arraigned on the charge on Wednesday morning and the jury in the case formally found him guilty. His trial heard he killed Miss Kenyon, of Padiham, Burnley, on 22 April and buried her body in a grave, which he had dug the day before her death.

Opening the trial on Monday, David McLachlan KC, prosecuting, told the jury Burfield was arrested following Miss Kenyon’s disappearance and interviewed four times, initially denying any knowledge of her whereabouts. Specialist search officers from four police forces scoured Gisburn Forest in Lancashire for her.

In his penultimate interview there was a “revelation” and his version of events changed, he said. Burfield, of Todmorden Road, Burnley, told police he had taken Miss Kenyon, who he had been in a relationship with since 2019, to Gisburn Forest for a picnic and she had “bet” him he could not hit her can of Coke with his axe.

What was said during sentencing?

Sentencing Burfield, the judge said: “In your relationship with her before you murdered her I’m satisfied you were manipulative and controlling while she was vulnerable.

“She looked to you for love and support, in return you planned to carry out her murder.” Mr Justice Goose said Miss Kenyon, who had two children aged 12 and 14, was told by Burfield he would take her to therapy on 22 April, but instead he planned to kill her. “It was a ferocious and cruel attack,” he said.

“You calmly placed her in a grave and covered her body.” He said the murder involved “careful preparation, deception and destruction of evidence and then an obviously implausible defence that it was all an accident”.

Tim Storrie KC, defending, said: “We wish to make it clear that to no degree does he avoid responsibility for what he did and for the turmoil he has wreaked on Katie Kenyon and the community in which she lived.”

What happened to Katie Kenyon?

The court heard Burfield had told police: “I went for the tree at the side of her and it, it hit her in (her) head.” He claimed she had been hit with the back of the axe and she had no other injuries. However, a post-mortem examination revealed Miss Kenyon, who began a relationship with Burfield in 2019, suffered at least 12 head injuries.

Burfield changed his plea to guilty on the third day of his trial, in what judge Mr Justice Goose described as “a final recognition your game plan had failed”.

The court heard that after her death he used Miss Kenyon’s phone to send messages, drafted the month before her death, to her children and to himself.

He dug her grave in Gisburn Forest on April 21 and returned with Ms Kenyon the following day, where he killed her and buried her body.

What has Katie Kenyon’s family said?

In a statement which she read to the court, Miss Kenyon’s sister, Sarah Kenyon-Holden, said the family went through a “full week of torture” as police searched for her.

She said: “Katie told us she wanted to stop Andrew Burfield from being able to do what he did to her to other women. She wanted to stop him. She wanted answers. This cost her her life.” Miss Kenyon’s family applauded in court following the statement from her sister.

What have police said?

Miss Kenyon’s body was discovered by police on 29 April. In a statement read outside Preston Crown Court on Thursday, Detective Chief Inspector Allen Davies said: “Mr Burfield is a bully and controlled Katie throughout the relationship. She expressed concern throughout that relationship that Mr Burfield represented a risk to her and she expressed that to her family.

“The family and myself would like to appeal to anybody who is out there to say if you are in a relationship and you have concerns about your partner or if you have concerns about anybody else, I would request and the family would request that you contact the police and make a Clare’s Law application. They’re very keen to ensure that nobody else is harmed in the way that Katie was harmed on this occasion.”