Katie Kenyon murder: Call to review Andrew Burfield's ‘unduly lenient’ sentence rejected

Andrew Burfield, 51, was jailed for a minimum of 32 years in November for the murder of mother-of-two Katie Kenyon.

After sentencing, an application was made to have his sentence reviewed on the grounds it was unduly lenient.

The Attorney General's Office (AGO) later confirmed that request had been rejected, meaning his sentence will remain the same.

Burfield will be 83-years-old before he is considered for release from prison.

Why was the request to review his sentence rejected?

An AGO representative said the threshold for a sentence review was a “high one” and it had not been “met in this case”.

“The Solicitor General was shocked and deeply saddened by this case and wishes to express his sympathies to the family of Katie Kenyon," they added.

“After careful consideration the Solicitor General has concluded that this case cannot properly be referred to the Court of Appeal.

"A referral under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme to the Court of Appeal can only be made if a sentence is not just lenient but unduly so, such that the sentencing judge made a gross error or imposed a sentence outside the range of sentences reasonably available in the circumstances of the offence.

“The threshold is a high one, and the test was not met in this case.”

How was Katie Kenyon murdered?

Andrew Burfield killed 33-year-old Katie Kenyon in the Forest of Bowland on April 22, before burying her body in a grave he had dug the day before.

The 51-year-old struck Miss Kenyon with an axe at least 12 times in a “ferocious and cruel” attack.

Burfield, of Todmorden Road, Burnley, later told police he had taken Miss Kenyon, who he had been in a relationship with since 2019, to Gisburn Forest for a picnic.

He said she “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 hit 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 examination showed she was struck an estimated 12 times.

Mr McLachlan said: “We now understand Mr Burfield will admit to causing all 12 injuries Katie Kenyon sustained.”

He added Home Office forensic pathologist Dr Jamie Robinson found due to the nature of the injuries, Burfield’s account of accidentally hitting Miss Kenyon with the axe was “completely implausible”.

What did Burfield do following the murder?

Burfield told police he then dug a hole and buried her, the jury was told.

The court heard Miss Kenyon’s daughter sent her a message at 12.18pm that day and received a response of two laughing face emojis.

Mr McLachlan said: “The prosecution say Katie Kenyon by this stage was dead.

“That message was not sent by her but it was part of a charade and was sent by Andrew Burfield.”

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 for Katie’s murder on April 27.

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.