A man has admitted murdering his ex-partner on the third day of his trial.
Andrew Burfield, 51, changed his plea to admit the murder of Katie Kenyon at Preston Crown Court today (November 16). The mum-of-two died after she was hit in the head with an axe.
The 33-year-old's body was found in a makeshift grave in a forest. Burfield was re-arraigned on the charge this morning and the jury in the case formally found him guilty.
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His trial heard he killed Miss Kenyon, of Padiham, Burnley, on April 22 and buried her body in a grave, which he had dug the day before her death, in the Forest of Bowland in Lancashire.
He then sent messages to himself and her children from her phone, the jury was told. 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.
In his penultimate interview there was a “revelation” and his version of events changed, Mr McLachlan 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.
The court heard he 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, but the jury heard a post mortem showed she was struck an estimated 12 times.
Miss Kenyon’s body was discovered by police on April 29. Burfield is due to be sentenced on Thursday at 10.30am.
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