A man who murdered a mother and her two-year-old daughter before burying their bodies under his kitchen floor has lost a bid to appeal against his conviction and sentence.
Andrew Innes, 52, stabbed and beat 25-year-old Bennylyn Burke to death with a hammer before strangling her daughter Jellica at his home in Dundee.
He had lured Bennylyn from Bristol to Dundee after targeting her through a dating website in February 2021.
Innes was found guilty of their murders following a five-day trial at the High Court in Edinburgh in February.
He was jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum of 36 years before he can apply for parole.
The software engineer launched a bid for freedom by challenging both his conviction and sentence at the High Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh.
Innes had his appeal rejected by the court at the “first sift” stage on Monday.
The decision came after a single judge decided there are no “arguable grounds” for an appeal to proceed based on legal matters and evidence.
Missing person probe
Innes did not request to be released on bail pending his appeal and remains in custody.
He can still appeal to the “second sift” stage where the case would be considered by two or three judges.
During his trial, Innes had admitted killing Bennylyn and Jellica but denied murder, claiming that he had diminished responsibility.
The jury also found him guilty of sexually assaulting Jellica, raping another child, and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
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 18 February.
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.
Bennylyn and Jellica’s family said they would be “forever haunted” by what they described as “the worst cruelty we could ever imagine”.
Judge Lord Beckett said the “difficult and harrowing” case was one of the worst crimes to have come before a Scottish court.
The High Court in Edinburgh confirmed Innes’ appeal against conviction and sentence was refused at “first sift”.
Read more: Dundee double murder: The inside story of the Troon Avenue killer
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