A man who killed his ex-girlfriend and buried her body in a forest sent a string of text messages to her children in a cruel charade to make it seem their mum was still alive.
After murdering Katie Kenyon, 33, and burying her body in a shallow grave, Andrew Burfield, 51, sent messages from her phone to her daughter, 12, and son, 14. The messages, which evil Burfield had drafted weeks earlier in his iPhone Notes app, claimed to be from Katie and gave instructions for her children when she did not return home on April 22 this year, a court heard.
Katie, a mum of two, had been in an on-off relationship with Burfield since July 2016. He was sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum term of 32 years, by a judge on Thursday after changing his not guilty plea to one of guilty part way through a crown court trial.
In the hour after he killed Katie, Burfield replied to a message from Katie's daughter asking about a salad Katie had left in the fridge, reports Lancs Live. The youngster said she had 'ate it now' and using Katie's phone, Burfield replied with two laughing emojis.
Just after 2pm, Katie's daughter received another message from her mum's phone. It said: "Hey, I love you and I'm sorry. Ring your dad - he will be looking after you for a wile [sic] from today. I need to get help so I can be a better person for you and your brother. Please know I love you and I'm not upset with you.
"Sorry I couldn't tell you about it. If your dad won't look after you Andy will always have your back. Remember ring your dad or Andy." Katie's daughter replied, asking: "Why? What about school?"
Just over an hour later, Katie's daughter messaged to say her dad was home from work. Posing as Katie, Burfield simply replied: "Ring him now."
Katie's son also received a message from his mum's phone, saying: "Hey dude, I love you and I'm sorry. You need to ring your dad - he will be looking after you from today. I need to get help. It's not you. I love you. Will you look after your sister and know Andy will always have your back - get your dad to come and get you wile I'm gone. If he won't look after you, get him to take you to Andy."
Burfield later messaged Katie's son from her Instagram account, asking about arrangements for the family dog 'Indi'. In these messages, Burfield repeatedly spelled the word 'while' incorrectly as 'wile' and also misspelled the name of the dog Indie.
As the killer continued the act, he messaged the children from his own phone, asking if they wanted him to go and collect them. But when Katie's sisters saw the messages they suspected Burfield knew more about Katie's disappearance than he was admitting.
At 6.30am the following morning, Jenny Kenyon-Holden messaged her sister's boyfriend, saying: "Andy I think you know a hell of a lot more than you are letting on!! I have read over the msgs “katie” sent to her kids and she doesn’t even spell like that or speak like that which is what the kids have also said!
"Katie knows how to spell and mentioned about you having dyslexia! Which makes sense to the spelling! YOU SENT THEM TEXTS! YOU KNOW WHERE KATIE IS!?! The police will trace where she was from the last msg sent. Doesn’t add up how she would drop her car, her keys, her bank card at yours but no phone and none of her other bank cards!!!"
When police examined Burfield's phone and iCloud, they discovered draft messages, which could not have been written any later than April 4, which were almost identical to the messages sent to Katie's children. They also noted the grammatical mistakes, which matched Burfield's style of writing.
On Thursday November 17, Andrew Burfield, of Todmorden Road, Burnley, was sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum term of 32 years. Sentencing, Mr Justice Goose said the killer was so dangerous he may never be released from prison.
He said: "After the murder, you returned to your home and carried out your planned defence. You pretended that Katie Kenyon had gone away. You sent messages to her children, most cruelly, and to others. The messages you had prepared in February, found by the police in your iCloud account, were sent to others. You cleaned the axe and spade, although not sufficiently, and you disposed of Katie’s flip flop shoes and other items, in the bin of a member of the public. You pretended to help the police, by suggesting where Katie had gone, and after your arrest, maintained your lies before admitting the killing, but stating it was all an accident."
In a victim impact statement, Katie's family said: "When the messages were received that afternoon we knew immediately that something was not right. Katie would never have left her children like that and there was all sorts going through our heads.
"We went out looking for her almost straight away and we sensed then that Burfield was behind it. We were in disbelief that Andrew Burfield was capable of such a thing, we knew that he was not good for Katie but we never thought he would be able to do something so horrific to her and then keep her hidden from those who loved her."
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