An appeal to refer the sentence of murderer Andrew Burfield to the Court of Appeal under the Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme has been rejected.

An application was made to the office of the Attorney General over the sentence of Burfield, who murdered his ex-girlfriend Katie Kenyon, 33, earlier this year before burying her body in a shallow grave in Gisburn Forest.

Burfield, 51, of Todmorden Road, Burnley, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 32 years after he confessed to killing mum-of-two Katie on the third day of his trial at Preston Crown Court in November.

His case was then referred to the office of Attorney General – Victoria Prentis – asking for it to be considered under the Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme. If the appeal had been successful, the case would then have been sent to the Court of Appeal.

The highest court in the land would have then either extended the sentence, left it the same, or refused to hear the case.

However, after consideration, the Attorney General’s office made the decision not to refer Burfield’s case to the Court of Appeal.

This means his sentence will remain the same, life with a minimum term of 32 years. This means he will be 83 years old before he is even considered for release from prison.

Katie Kenyon, from Padiham, went missing on April 22 having last being seen leaving Burfield’s home.

Burfield had driven her to Gisburn Forest in his van, before brutally murdering her with an axe and burying her body in a grave he had prepared a day earlier.

He then drove home and sent pre-written messages from Katie’s phone in an attempt to cover his tracks to himself and her children, causing her sisters to suspect he was involved in her disappearance.

The next day, he dumped Katie’s clothes and bags in the bin of a home he had been working at, and swapped his SIM card into a new phone. He was arrested that night for kidnap, before being re-arrested on April 27 for Katie’s murder.

He then spun a web of lies to police, saying Katie had been killed in an accident while playing a game, and two days later took police to the site of her grave in Gisburn Forest.

He was charged with murder but denied the offence until the morning of the third day of his trial, when, faced with overwhelming evidence, he finally confessed and pleaded guilty to killing Katie.