‘Depraved’ man found guilty of murdering and burying mum and her little girl in Dundee

'Depraved' man found guilty of murdering and burying mum and her little girl in Dundee

Andrew Innes. Image courtesy of Tayside Police Division Facebook

A ‘depraved’ 52-year-old man has been found guilty of murdering a mum and her two-year-old girl before burying their bodies under the kitchen floor of his home in Dundee.

Andrew Innes stabbed and beat Bennylyn Burke to death with a hammer, before then strangling her daughter Jellica.

He lured the 25-year-old mother from Bristol to Dundee after initially targeting her through a dating website.

Innes has been jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum of 36 years before he can apply for parole.

He admitted the killings but denied murder, claiming that he had diminished responsibility.

However, judge Lord Beckett told the jury that there had been no evidence during the trial to show that Innes had been suffering from mental impairment at the time of the killings.

As a result, he instructed them to find Innes guilty of murdering Bennylyn and Jellica.

The jury also found Innes guilty of sexually assaulting Jellica, and raping another child.

Members of Bennylyn and Jellica’s family wept at the trial – which took place at the High Court in Edinburgh – as the jury delivered their verdict after two hours and 26 minutes of deliberations.

The trial at the High Court in Edinburgh heard that Innes met Bennylyn, who had moved to the UK from the Philippines in 2019, on a dating site in February 2021.

He drove Bennylyn and Jellica from their home in Bristol to Dundee on 18 February. They were reported missing two weeks later.

The trial heard that Innes met Bennylyn, who had moved to the UK from the Philippines in 2019, on a dating site in February, 2021.

He drove Bennylyn and Jellica from their home in Bristol to Dundee on February 18. They were reported missing two weeks later.

On March 5, police officers saw a car which had made a return trip from Dundee to Bristol during lockdown in the driveway of Innes’ home in Troon Avenue.

Innes claimed that he had driven Bennylyn and Jellica to Glasgow and had left them with another man.

But after repeated questioning he admitted killing Bennylyn and told officers she was buried under the kitchen floor.

The court heard that Bennylyn had been stabbed and repeatedly hit on the head with a hammer.

Jellica died of asphyxiation.

Innes put their bodies in rubble bags and concealed them in concrete beneath the kitchen floor.

In a statement, Bennylyn and Jellica’s family said: “A big part of our family has been torn from us. We shall never see Bennylyn and Jellica again.”

They said Bennylyn was “the hope and light of our family”.

Detective Chief Inspector Graham Smith, the lead officer on the case, said the murders had “shocked and appalled us all”.

He said: “In almost 30 years of policing, the depravity shown by Andrew Innes was beyond anything I or my colleagues had witnessed before.

“His actions showed no regard for human life or the suffering and anguish he has brought to the loved ones.”


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Written by

Simon Smedley

Reporter - Euro Weekly News

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