A killer who drove his ex-girlfriend to her own grave will not have his prison sentence extended.
Andrew Burfield killed Katie Kenyon by repeatedly her hitting over the head with an axe. He then covered her body in a grave he had pre-prepared and sent text messages to her children to pretend she was still alive.
Katie's family first became suspicious of Burfield when they received texts with poor grammar and spelling. In police interviews, Burfield repeatedly denied he killed Katie, however eventually admitted his guilt on the third day of his murder trial at Preston Crown Court, reports LancsLive.
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Burfield eventually pleaded guilty to the murder and was jailed for a minimum of 32 years. In late November, Burfield's sentence was referred to the Attorney General under the unduly lenient sentence scheme. The scheme allows individuals to request that a sentence is reviewed if they deem it to be lenient.
A spokesperson from the Attorney General’s Office confirmed to LancsLive that the "high threshold" for an unduly lenient sentence had not been met in Burfield's case. They said: “The Solicitor General was shocked and deeply saddened by this case and wishes to express his sympathies to the family of Katie Kenyon.
“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.”
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