Story by Rucsandra Moldoveanu.
A murderer who plunged a knife into the back of his sister’s boyfriend after a row over a dog was caught in the act on a pet camera.
Anthony Junior Murray, 25, stabbed Joe Burton, 23, with a combat knife on New Year’s Eve then told police he was “not aware of the happenings” in an attempt to cover his crimes. But he was caught out when it emerged the attack had been filmed by a camera installed in his flat.
The incident took place at 11.49pm on December 31 last year at a flat on Tarn Drive in Bury, Greater Manchester. Minshull Street Crown Court heard that Murray’s sister, Kayleigh, had been in an on-off relationship with Mr Burton but this was “sadly blighted by alcohol abuse on both sides”, prosecutor Rob Hall told Murray’s trial.
Although the pair had a child together in 2024, their “issues with alcohol continued”. Murray invited his sister to the flat, who arrived with Mr Burton.
Joe Burton was stabbed in the back© MEN Media
Mr Hall told the trial, which concluded last month: “On the evening of New Year’s Eve 2025, a time that should have been about socialising and welcoming in 2026, in a first floor flat in Bury, this defendant, Anthony Junior Murray, 25, lost his temper and stabbed Joe Burton, 23, the boyfriend of the defendant’s sister, to death.
“He did that with a combat knife that he owned. The one stab wound that was inflicted with that knife was to Joe Burton’s left upper back area. The stab wound penetrated to a depth of approximately 18cm, which is almost to the full extent of the blade of that knife.”
Manchester Evening News reports that Murray lived alone in his flat with his two dogs called Zarla and Beau Beau. He installed a camera in the flat to monitor the pets.
On New Year’s Eve, Kayleigh is understood to have been “particularly intoxicated” and “appeared to be struggling to stand,” the court heard. After the four let off some fireworks, “tensions started to rise”.
Mr Hall told the court: “There are a number of things in the mix by this stage, intoxication, lateness of the hour, the state of Kayleigh Murray and the tensions between the Murray family and Joe Burton.” Before the stabbing, Murray and Mr Burton had been fighting over the dogs.
Mr Burton said: “F*** off dog, doing my head in.” Later he said: “Shut up Beau I’ve had enough of you.” Murray said: “What do you want me to do, put my dogs in a cage for you?”
“No I don’t,” Mr Burton replied. “What do you want me to do, you f****** idiot,” Murray replied. He continued: “Get the f*** out of my house kn******, why should I have to cage my dogs because of you?”
He continued: “I don’t give a f***, I never trusted you from day one. I never trusted you. Why is Kayleigh like that? It has always been about you.” Murray told Mr Burton “I’ll slit your f****** throat”.
Mr Burton said: “I haven’t done anything wrong Anthony.” A “struggle followed, after which Murray stabbed Mr Burton once to the back.
Police at the scene of the stabbing on Tarn Drive in Bury© MEN Media
His reaction was “Not to help Joe Burton or call 999” but to call his family instead, being “selective” in telling his father, Anthony Senior, and his siblings about what he had done. The selective story telling then turned into a series of lies once officers arrived to the scene, the court heard.
A call to 999 was made by Kayleigh “out of concern for him [Murray]”, with his family then driving to the flat and arriving moments before the police. At 12.07am, Murray claimed that “another person had stabbed” Mr Burton, later saying he had “been out all day” at the Bridge Tavern pub in nearby Radcliffe before coming home to find Mr Burton “bleeding to death”.
In a later account, Murray said he didn’t know who had been stabbed, claiming it may be to do with issues he had previously had with his downstairs neighbours. Murray was arrested at 12.30am, while Mr Burton was pronounced dead at 12.43am.
In a written statement the next day, Murray accepted he had present at the flat and that a “fight” had started between Mr Burton and a man he didn’t wish to name. He claimed he tried to intervene but left the flat, finding Mr Burton injured upon his return.
In a second statement, he accepted that the knife used in the stabbing belonged to him. Mr Hall told the court the attack was captured on the dog camera in a “remarkable stroke of luck”.
When he was played the footage in a police interview, Murray said: “I cannot give an account of what went on in the footage or what I was thinking at the time as I blanked this out and I am not aware of the happenings.” He said his previous statements represented his memory of what happened that night.
During the trial, Murray, of Tarn Drive, Bury, claimed he acted in self-defence and didn’t mean to stab Mr Burton. Today, he was ordered to serve a minimum of 18 years behind bars before he can be considered for parole.
Sentencing, Judge Maurice Greene told Murray: “It is not my task to put a value on Joe Burton’s life because no sentence can do that. Criminal law can not restore him to his family. But the court must recognise the seriousness of the harm caused, and I do.”
Mr Hall said: “The Crown says that Mr Murray’s actions and the lies after the stabbing are the clearest evidence that he knew only too well what he had done and the seriousness of the consequences for him if that was discovered.” Jurors found Murray guilty of murder by a majority of 11 to one after eight hours of deliberations.
Defending, Bernard Richmond KC paid tribute to the “quiet dignity” displayed by Mr Burton’s family during the case. Mr Richmond said that Murray recognised that the “life sentence he knows you are going to pass is not just a life sentence on him, but a life sentence on all of those who have been affected by this”.
He said that the single blow inflicted by Murray was “horrific”, but pointed out it was one blow and was not a more sustained attack. Mr Richmond said Murray’s lies “do him no credit” but that “none of them stand scrutiny at all”.
