Man who murdered Filipina and her daughter in Scotland found guilty

WARNING: This article contains graphic details that may be upsetting.

EDINBURGH, Scotland, United Kingdom – Andrew Innes, 52, was found guilty of murdering Bennylyn Burke, 25, and her daughter, Jellica, 2, by a jury at the Edinburgh High Court on Monday, February 6. He has been sentenced to life imprisonment and will be considered for release on parole only after serving a minimum of 36 years.

Innes hit Bennylyn several times on the head with a hammer and stabbed her with a long knife, and two days later, strangled Jellica. Their bodies were found buried in his kitchen under concrete on March 18, 2021.

Lord John Beckett, judge of the Supreme Courts, told those gathered: “These are among the very worst crimes which have come before the High Court of Justiciary.”

During the trial, Innes claimed diminished responsibility, owing to his medication after being diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Crohn’s Disease. He said he killed her “because I was insane, as a result of the steroids.”

His story also changed several times.

Bennylyn Aquino-Burke met Innes through a dating website. He came to Bristol, where the mother and daughter lived, to drive them to his home in Dundee, some 440 miles (713 kms) away on February 18, 2021.

In an interview with the BBC, Shela, Bennylyn’s sister, said she met Innes on a video call as he was driving Bennylyn and Jellica to his home in Scotland to spend the weekend.

After not hearing from Bennylyn for several days, Shela corresponded with Innes online, and he claimed he had driven Bennylyn and Jellica to Glasgow to meet another man. He even reassured Shela that her sister and niece were safe.

Innes was also found guilty of sexually assaulting Jellica as well as raping a seven-year-old girl.  

“It’s hard to lose a sibling, someone you love. Do you know that feeling when you can’t sleep? That feeling of missing her? A person’s life is priceless, it cannot be bought with money. Your memories with her, your relationship, I remember them…talking to her every day,” she told the BBC in an interview following Bennylyn’s death. Shela had traveled to the UK to retrieve the ashes of her sister and niece at the height of pandemic lockdowns.

In separate interviews with the BBC, Shela described her sister thus: “She was kind. There was nothing bad you could say about her.”

Bennylyn’s father, Benedicto, said: “My daughter doesn’t pick fights, she was kind, God-fearing, friendly.” Of Innes, he said: “Why do that to her? What an abomination that he murdered an innocent child.”

Bennylyn had met and married Lexington Burke in the Philippines in 2018. The couple moved to the UK with baby Jellica in August 2019. But the marriage ended a few months after that.

Bennylyn started working and sending money back home to her family.

Shela and Benedicto traveled from the Philippines to attend the court proceedings.

In a statement, Detective Chief Inspector Graham Smith of the Police Scotland’s Major Investigation Team said: “In almost 30 years of policing, the level of depravity shown by Andrew Innes is way beyond anything myself and my colleagues have witnessed before. Not only did he callously take the life of a young mother and an innocent child, he then sought to escape justice by burying their bodies beneath his kitchen floor. He showed no regard for human life, or for the suffering that he has brought to their loved ones.

“I’d like to end by thanking the family of Bennylyn and Jellica for the courage they’ve shown throughout what’s been a horrific ordeal and I hope this conviction in some way helps bring them a degree of closure.” – Rappler.com