Benilyn Aquino, born in Quezon City, Philippines, was described by her sister Sheila as kind, down-to-earth, and universally liked. Growing up in difficult circumstances, her family pooled their resources to ensure she could finish her education. Like many seeking connection, Benilyn turned to online dating.

In 2015, she met Lexington Burke, a man from the United Kingdom. Their online messages blossomed into a real-world romance when Lexington visited the Philippines. They married in a beautiful ceremony on July 28, 2018, and just a month later, their daughter Jellica was born.

In August 2019, Lexington brought his wife and daughter to the UK, hoping to build a new life together. It was Benilyn’s first time leaving the Philippines, filled with hope for Jellica’s future. However, the dream soured quickly. Just four months later, in December 2020, Benilyn and Lexington separated.

Benilyn and young Jellica moved into a women’s shelter. Despite the hardship, Benilyn’s friendly nature shone through, and she quickly made friends within the shelter and in nearby Bristol. Seeking stability and perhaps companionship, she joined the dating site FilipinoCupid.com.

There, she encountered Andrew Ines. Born on a military base in Germany in the 1970s, Ines was a software engineer who had previously lived in Japan, where he married and had a daughter before divorcing. He was deported from Japan back to the UK in 2019 under unclear circumstances.

Returning to the UK, Ines moved back into a house he owned, initially sharing it with a tenant, Christopher Smith. Smith described Ines as obsessive about cleanliness. During the pandemic in March 2020, Ines asked Smith to leave, citing fear of catching the virus due to his Crohn’s disease.

Alone in the house, Ines immersed himself in online dating, registering on an astonishing 34 different sites. Police later discovered he kept detailed spreadsheets, rating women based on criteria, consistently giving high scores to women in their mid-to-late 20s with young children.

When his tenant left, Ines found Benilyn’s profile. He offered her a job as a customer relations manager in Dundee with a salary of £1,000 and free accommodation. Benilyn declined, confident she could find similar work closer to Bristol. As their online communication continued, Ines began asking for explicit photos, which Benilyn consistently refused.

Despite this, she spoke positively about Ines to her family, describing him as kind and caring. After weeks of chatting, in February 2021, Ines traveled to Bristol to meet Benilyn and Jellica in person at a coffee shop. He spontaneously invited them to visit his home in Dundee, Scotland, offering to show them around.

Benilyn’s sister later said Benilyn agreed partly out of sympathy for Ines, given the long distance he had traveled, and partly out of her own desire to see Scotland. The next day, Benilyn, Jellica, and an unnamed seven-year-old child traveled with Ines back to his house on Troon Avenue in Dundee. Ines prepared a place for them to sleep in his living room.

On February 19, 2021, Ines took Benilyn and Jellica sightseeing around Scotland. February 20 was the day they were expected back in Bristol, but Benilyn’s family in the Philippines couldn’t reach her. Her friends at the shelter also grew worried. Lexington Burke, her ex-husband, had tried to pick up Jellica on February 19 as scheduled but found no one home.

His subsequent calls to Benilyn went unanswered. Social workers reported the mother and daughter missing, and on March 1, 2021, they were officially declared missing persons. Authorities immediately began investigating, learning they were last seen at the shelter on February 17. Lexington’s report added urgency.

Police appealed to the public for information. Investigators delved into Benilyn’s digital footprint—phone, computer, and bank records. On March 5, a breakthrough came: digital evidence pointed towards Dundee, Scotland, 440 miles from Bristol. Tips also surfaced about Benilyn and Jellica being seen getting into a car with a man.

CCTV confirmed this, providing a plate number. The footage showed them entering the vehicle willingly, with no signs of distress. However, given their status, police protocols required a welfare check. Bristol officers traveled to Dundee, arriving at Andrew Ines’s house at 3 p.m. on March 5.

Ines initially tried to refuse them entry, citing pandemic restrictions and claiming his daughter was bathing. Investigators, however, glimpsed the child, fully dressed, contradicting his story. Growing suspicious, they pressed him, and he eventually allowed them inside. The house was messy, with kitchen items displaced, suggesting he was in the middle of renovations.

When officers spoke to the child, they quickly realized she was not Ines’s daughter. Fearing abuse, they removed her from the house immediately. Under intense questioning, Ines finally broke. He admitted he had taken Benilyn’s life and that her body was under the kitchen floor, claiming it was an accident during an argument. When asked about Jellica, he chillingly replied she was with her mother.

On March 6, 2021, police announced the arrest of 41-year-old Andrew Ines for the apparent taking of Benilyn and Jellica’s lives. Authorities in Dundee relayed the devastating news to Benilyn’s family and her ex-husband. Forensic teams began the grim task of excavating the concrete floor of Ines’s kitchen.

It took five traumatic days to recover the bodies of the mother and child. One team member described the process as deeply disturbing. Police interviewed Benilyn’s sister, Sheila, who confirmed she had video-called Benilyn during the trip to Dundee and the day after, seeing Ines’s house. Benilyn had expressed hope that Ines might be the one to provide a stable life for them.

After February 20, Sheila couldn’t reach her sister. Two days later, Ines messaged her, claiming they were in Glasgow because Benilyn had met another man online and needed to hide from Lexington, who supposedly wanted full custody of Jellica and wanted Benilyn deported. He claimed Benilyn asked him to dispose of her phone.

When Sheila asked point-blank if Benilyn was still alive, Ines evasively replied that Scotland was safe. His refusal to provide a current video, sending an old one instead, confirmed Sheila’s worst fears. News of their disappearance broke shortly after.

The trial began in January 2023. Benilyn’s father and sister flew to the UK to attend. They heard Ines’s horrifying confession in court. He claimed he attacked Benilyn from behind in the kitchen, triggered by her resemblance to his ex-wife and another former partner. He felt intense rage remembering past wrongs and struck her with a hammer until she stopped moving.

He insisted it was a crime of passion, not premeditated. He claimed he took Jellica’s life two or three days later because her constant crying for her mother irritated him, stating it was better for the child to be with her mother. He blamed steroids for causing paranoia.

The prosecution dismantled his claims. They presented CCTV footage showing Ines buying cement and a hammer before the fatal attack, proving premeditation. Forensic evidence revealed he had also used a knife on Benilyn. The autopsy showed Jellica had been suffocated before being buried.

Ines denied assaulting the seven-year-old girl found in his house, but the child bravely testified against him, detailing repeated assaults and witnessing the hammer attack on Benilyn. Medical reports confirmed the child contracted chlamydia, the same infection Ines had. Psychiatrists testified about Ines’s constantly shifting stories—self-defense, uncontrollable rage, a psychotic episode, feeling like a “zombie.”

His lawyer argued for diminished responsibility due to steroid-induced psychosis. After five days of arguments over his mental state, the jury took less than two hours to deliberate. They found Andrew Ines guilty on all counts: ending the lives of Benilyn and Jellica, assaulting both children, and obstruction of justice. He was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 36 years.

The verdict brought tears of grief and relief to Benilyn’s family. While justice was served, it could never bring back their loved ones. They expressed gratitude to Kanlungan, a UK-based charity that supported them throughout the ordeal. The judge called the case one of the worst the Scottish courts had ever seen. Benilyn and Jellica’s ashes were returned to the Philippines in June 2022, finally allowing their family, despite their own hardships, to lay them to rest.