A killer carried out the 'savage' murder of his ex-girlfriend before he placed her body in a grave he had dug a day earlier.
Katie Kenyon's ex-boyfriend, Andrew Burfield, had denied the killing for months, but on Wednesday, day three of the murder trial, he changed his plea to guilty, with Mr Justice Goose bringing Burfield back to Preston Crown Court today (Thursday) to be sentenced. Mum-of-two Katie was last seen getting into a van in Padiham, near Burnley, on April 22 this year.
Police quickly launched a public appeal to find the 33-year-old, with 60 specialist officers spending seven days searching for the mum. Her body was found on April 29 in the Forest of Bowland, with a postmortem examination concluding she had died from head injuries.
Burfield, 50, first appeared in court on Monday, November 14, as the three-week trial got underway, with it being heard that he allegedly took Katie on a picnic on April 22 when she challenged him to knock a can of coke off her hand with an axe, as reported by Lancs Live.
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Burfield, of Todmorden Roa, Burnley, claimed he told police it would "take her arm off" throwing the axe towards a tree instead, but the weapon hit Katie in the head instead and killed her with a single blow. The grave Katie was found in was so well concealed that a forensic archaeologist couldn't find it, the prosecution told the jury, with police only able to find it when Burfield showed officers where it was.
The prosecution slammed Burfield's account after a Home Office pathologist said Katie's body found was found with at least 12 blows to her head.
Katie's family first became suspicious of Burfield when they received texts with poor grammar and spelling, noticeably different to the way she had messaged before, with it also being heard in court that Burfield had prepared the grave the day before and inflicted multiple head injuries with the axe.
Addressing the court today, Thursday, November 17, Katie's sister Sarah said: "Every Christmas, birthday and holiday will be scarred by Katie's absence. She did not choose this, she was not unwell and this was not an accident. She was robbed of her life.
"Not only has Burfield taken Katie from us, he has taken our lives too. Her children have lost their mum in the most horrific way. She was mum, dad and best friend all in one.
"Katie was a fantastic mum. Our mum Dawn has had to become a mother to two grieving teenagers but to do this while grieving the loss of your daughter is so difficult.
"If Katie had died in natural circumstances would be bad enough. Katie told us she wanted to stop Burfield from being able to do to other women what he did to her. This cost her her life."
Mr Justice Goose said to Burfield before sentencing him to prison: "You pleaded guilty to the murder of Katie Kenyon, a 33 year old single mother of two young children, 14 and 12. On 22 April you carried out a planned and savage attack striking at least 12 heavy blows with an axe.
"In your relationship, you were manipulative and controlling while she was vulnerable. She looked to you for love and support, In return, you planned and carried out her murder. This was not heat of the moment. It involved planning, lies, the destruction of evidence and an implausible defence.
"Your murder of Katie was as cruel as it was savage. The calmness you displayed before, during and after proves your dangerousness. The messages suggested you loved her but at the same time you manipulated her. You created a debt and used it to scare her while pretending to help her. You advised her to seek help for anxiety.
"You said on April 22 you would take her to the therapy unit for the start of a new life. You planned to kill her that day. You planned this as early as April 4 when you wrote notes on your phone to her children. You encouraged her to look forward to her new start and she believed you. You drove to Gisburn Forest with a spade, turning off your phone to avoid detection, and dug a very precise and tidy grave.
"The following day you drove to the forest with Katie, taking an axe as well as a spade. You parked in a layby carrying a cool box pretending it was refreshment. There you killed her. It was a ferocious and cruel attack. You calmly placed her in the grave taking great care to hide it with soil and branches."
Burfield was jailed for life with a minimum term of 32 years.
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