A man accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend and burying her body in a forest sent messages from her phone to her children just hours after killing her, and then dumped her bloody flip flops in a bin, a jury has been told.
On the second day of the trial into the alleged murder of Katie Kenyon at Preston Crown Court today (Tuesday), Detective Sergeant Steven Acres continued his evidence in relation to the 33-year-old’s final movements on April 22.
They were also told how Katie’s sisters, Jennifer and Sarah Kenyon, suspected Andrew Burfield had been involved in Katie’s disappearance, and sent text messages to him asking him where she was.
Katie’s ex-boyfriend, Burfield, 51, denies murdering the mother-of-two from Padiham, and claims he accidentally hit her in the head with an axe during a game while on a picnic in Gisburn Forest.
READ MORE: Andrew Burfield 'hit Katie Kenyon 12 times with axe', court told
The prosecution's case is Burfield struck Katie multiple times with a weapon in the head before burying her on the morning of April 22 in a grave he had prepared the day before.
DS Acres took the jury through a timeline of events in the case, most notably between April 20, and April 22 – the day Katie was killed, and then continued by going over the details of Burfield’s arrest and the discovery of Katie’s body.
WhatsApp messages, texts, voicemails, images and CCTV footage were shown to the jury, outlining Katie’s and Burfield’s movements on those dates.
Of significance were Burfield’s actions on April 21 and 22, when he travels to and from Gisburn Forest in his van.
READ MORE: Live coverage of Day 2 of the Katie Kenyon murder trial
The jury were told how on the morning of April 21, Katie went to Burfield’s home in Todmorden Road, before leaving after a few hours.
The pair continued to message each other throughout the course of the day, with Burfield and Katie discussing their ‘new chapter', which would begin on April 22.
After Katie left Burfield’s home, he travelled to his father’s house to pick up a spade and a set of ladders.
He was then seen at around 7.30pm on CCTV, and by ANPR cameras, travelling towards Gisburn Forest, where he arrived at around 8.15pm – which is when his phone signal cut out.
His phone regained signal one hour and 50 minutes later when he was seen travelling back towards Burnley, visible on several of the same cameras.
The prosecution claim during this time Burfield was preparing Katie's grave.
The following day, April 22, Katie arrived at Burfield’s house at around 9.20am, before CCTV captured both of them leaving in Burfield’s van.
CCTV showed how Burfield’s van made its journey north towards Gisburn Forest, with him and Katie in the front seats.
On the return journey, Burfield’s van was spotted by the same cameras, but this time he was alone in the vehicle.
The jury heard how later that day, messages were sent from Katie’s phone to Burfield’s phone as well as to her children, stating she was ‘going away for a while’.
Prosecuting, David McLachlan KC said the way the word ‘while’ was spelt in those messages was of importance, as it was spelt incorrectly, as ‘wile’. He said this was how Burfield would spell the word in his messages.
The prosecution say these messages were not sent by Katie, but by Burfield, who was in possession of her phone.
Police evidence also found the messages had been created in Burfield’s notes app on his phone between March 19 and April 4, and were found backed up to his iCloud account.
By the afternoon of April 22, Katie had been buried in Gisburn Forest for several hours, Mr McLachlan said, but Burfield continued to send Katie’s phone messages telling her he ‘loved her’. He also left voicemails for her.
Later that day, Katie’s family become concerned for her whereabouts, with her sister Jennifer, and then her other sister Sarah, along with Sarah’s boyfriend, visiting Burfield’s home address to question him.
Burfield then called the police to report a man “kicking his door in” after things became heated between him and Sarah Kenyon’s boyfriend, and he also reported Katie as missing.
Police attended Burfield’s home and questioned him about Katie, before searching her car, which was still parked outside his house.
The following day, April 23, Jennifer Kenyon sent Burfield a message which said: “Andy I think you know a hell of a lot more than you letting on.
"I have read over the messages ‘Katie’ sent to her kids and she doesn’t even spell 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 message 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. It’s about time you come forward and started telling some truth now.”
The jury were then told how that day Burfield went to a property he had been working at and placed some items in a bin, before doing the same thing at the Spar in Todmorden Road.
He also visited his neighbour’s house to ask about CCTV, before heading to the Spar shop once again.
Upon returning home, at around 8.40pm he switched his SIM card from his iPhone 8 into an iPhone 7.
Police returned to Burfield’s address that night and he was arrested at 9.15pm for the kidnap of Katie Kenyon.
On April 24 the occupant of the Hillingdon Road property called police to report some suspicious items in her bin, and police found a bin bag which contained other plastic bags, some with blood on them.
Katie’s flip flops, which she was wearing on the day she disappeared, were also recovered from the bags.
On April 27, Burfield is charged with the murder of Katie Kenyon.
Mr McLachlan and DS Acres then led the jury through the events of April 29, when Burfield, escorted by police, took officers to a clearing in Gisburn Forest where Katie’s body was recovered.
Andrew Burfield, of Todmorden Road, Burnley, denies murder.
The trial continues.
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