You pleaded guilty to the murder of Katie Kenyon, a 33 year old single mother of two young children, 14 and 12. On 22 April you caried out a planned and savage attack striking at least 12 heavy blows with an axe.
In your relationship you were manipulative and conytrolling while she was vulnerable. She looked to you for love and support, In return you planned and carrid out her murder. This was not heat of the moment. It involved planning, lies, the destruction of evidence and an implausible defence.
Your murder of Katie was as cruel as it was savage. The calmness you displayed before, during and after prove your dangerousness. The messages suggested you loved her but at the same time you manipulated her. You created a debt and used it to scare her while pretending to help her. You advised her to seek help for anxiety.
You said on April 22 you would take her to teh therapy unit for the start of a new life. You planned to kill her that day. You planned this as early as April 4 when you wrote notes on your phone to her childen. You encouraged her to look forwad to her new start and she believed you. You drove to Gisburn Forest with a spade, turning off your phone to avoid detection, and dug a very precise and tidy grave.
The following day you drove to the forest with Katie, taking an axe as well as a spade. You parked in a layby carrying a cool box pretending it was refreshment. There you killed her. It was a ferocious and cruel attack. You calmly placed her in the grave taking great care to hide it with soil and branches.
