Andrew Burfield pleads guilty to Katie Kenyon murder

Andrew Burfield, 51, had been on trial at Preston Crown Court since Monday, charged with murder, after he denied killing 33-year-old Katie Kenyon and burying her body in a grave in Gisburn Forest on April 22.

This morning (Wednesday, November 16), on the third day of his trial, Burfield, of Todmorden Road, Burnley, pleaded guilty to her murder.

Katie Kenyon and Andrew Burfield had been in an on-off relationship since July 2019, but by March 2022 things had turned sour between the pair.

Burfield had filed a claim against Katie, which resulted in her owing him £6,000.

He enlisted debt collectors to retreive the money from the mum-of-two, with the court hearing how she was petrified at not being able to pay what she owed, fearing bailiffs would turn up at her Padiham home.

Katie Kenyon murder: Andrew Burfield labelled 'vindictive monster'

In the two months leading up to her disappearance and ultimately her death, Burfield and Katie exchanged multiple messages about the money, with Burfield essentially playing mind games with the 33-year-old, telling her not to worry about the bailiffs, and offering to give her £6,000 in cash to pay them off.

Katie's mental health was also discussed during these messages, and Burfield suggested she book herself into rehab, even offering to pay for her stay.

While they would sometimes argue over text about the debt, and about Katie's mental health, there were purposeful displays of affection lauded on Katie by Burfield.

He continued to send her messages telling her he "proper loved her", but simultaneously he was still pursuing the money she owed him.

This hounding by the debt company, and the back and forth over text, led Katie to text her mum, labelling Burfield a 'Tinder Swindler', and saying she would rather borrow money from the father of her daughter to pay her debt, than take it from Burfield and owe him £6,000.

It was during this period, some time between March 19 and the beginning of April, that things turned sinister in Burfield's mind.

Following his arrest for Katie's kidnap and subsequently her murder, police gained access to his iCloud account and located pre-written messages in his Notes App. 

These notes had been created, police said, between March 19 and April 4, and were addressed to her children, her family, and there were even messages addressed to him - with the prosecution saying that by March, Burfield had murder on his mind and was making moves to try and conceal his future tracks.

At the beginning of April, Katie and Burfield were still texting, with Burfield telling her he loved her.

He even left chocolates and flowers on her car and on April 7 told her "just over two weeks away now and your life will change for the better".

Just over two weeks away was Friday, April 22 - the day he brutally murdered her.

Following a meeting at a pub on April 12, the pair begin making plans for the future, discussing a house, but also discussing Katie's departure to rehab, with Burfield telling her she'd have to leave her children for a while but he would take care of them for her. 

On April 21, Katie went to Burfield's home and stayed there for a few hours. Later that day, Burfield called his dad and asked to borrow a spade and a set of ladders.

Burfield collected the items from his dad's house and was then caught on CCTV and by ANPR cameras travelling towards Gisburn Forest on the evening of April 21.

The prosecution said Burfield made this journey in order to dig a grave for Katie before returning home and texting a woman he had been seeing called Amanda Cox.

The following morning, April 22, Katie again went to Burfield's home address. She was wearing flip flops and black leggings with a blue shirt.

CCTV showed her and Burfield getting into his van outside his home in Todmorden Road, at around 9.30am.

The pair then travelled to Gisburn Forest, with Katie's phone hitting cell site masts along the way. Burfield had left his phone at home.

They were captured on CCTV and ANPR cameras heading past Bow Laithe caravan park and then a farm at Tosside, before Katie's phone lost mobile signal.

At around 11.15am, Burfield's van was caught on camera heading back towards Burnley, but Katie was not in the front passenger seat, although her phone was.

We know now that while up at Gisburn Forest, Burfield had killed Katie with an axe - the prosecution say he reigned 12 blows to her head - and buried her in a grave he had dug the night before. 

Police recovered the axe used to kill Katie (Image: Lancs Police)

Upon returning to Burnley without Katie, Burfield then proceeded to access the pre-written messages he made a month earlier and sent them from Katie's phone one-by-one to Katie's children.

He even sent a message from Katie's phone to himself and then he called Katie's phone and left several voice messages.

The messages sent to her children described how Katie was 'going away for a while' and the children would need to contact their fathers, and if they would not 'step up' then they should go to Burfield, who would 'have their backs'.

Following this, Katie's family became suspicious, noticing grammatical mistakes and spelling errors in the texts they knew Katie would not make, including the spelling of the word 'while', which Burfield had spelt 'wile'.

Katie's sisters, Jennifer and Sarah went round to Burfield's home on the evening of Friday April 22 to question him about where she was.

It was during Sarah's visit, in which she was accompanied by her boyfriend, that things became heated, and Burfield called the police.

Officers attended Burfield's home address and Katie was reported missing that evening.

The following day, Jennifer Kenyon's suspicions were heightened and again she questioned Burfield, via text, about her sister's whereabouts.

It was later on April 23 that Burfield took more steps to cover his tracks; he bought two bottles of bleach from the Spar, and dumped bloody plastic bags and Katie's bloody flip flops in the bin of a house he had been working at in Hillingdon Road.

He also swapped his SIM card from his iPhone 8 into an iPhone 7, and put his log burner on around 5pm, before washing some items in his washing machine at home. 

Burfield also visited a neighbour on the corner of his road, twice during the course of that Saturday, to ask them about their CCTV, which he then texted a police officer about.

At 9.15pm on Saturday, April 23, police went back to Burfield's house and he was arrested for the kidnap of Katie Kenyon.

Following the discovery of further evidence, after the occupant of Hillingdon Road called the police on April 24 to notify them of some suspicious items in her bin, Burfield was re-arrested and on Wednesday, April 27, he was charged with Katie's murder. 

At this point, Katie's body had still not been found, despite extensive searches of Gisburn Forest by the police.

Burfield then told police in interviews his cover story: that he and Katie went to the forest for a picnic, and it was during this time they played a game with an axe and a can of Coke, whereby Katie dared him to throw the axe at the Coke can she was holding in her hand.

Burfield claimed he aimed for the tree behind her but the axe accidentally hit Katie in the head once and killed her. However pathology evidence revealed Katie had in fact been hit 12 times to the skull, disproving his story.

On April 29, escorted by officers, Burfield was driven to Gisburn Forest and after leading police through the woods to a clearing, he pointed out the place where he buried the mum-of-two.

Burfield, 51, of Todmorden Road, Burnley, will be sentenced by Mr Justice Goose at Preston Crown Court tomorrow (Thursday November 17).

He will receive a mandatory life sentence, with Mr Justice Goose to decide the minimum time he must spend in prison before being considered for release.