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Primary school teacher Fiona Beal admits murdering her 'cheating' boyfriend and burying his body in their garden
A primary school teacher has pleaded guilty mid-trial to murdering her 'cheating' boyfriend by luring him to their room for sex before tying him to the bed with cable ties, stabbing him in the neck and burying his body in their garden.
Fiona Beal, 50, planned the killing of 42-year-old builder Nick Billingham in her journal, where she wrote under her alter ego, 'Tulip22', before buying a knife and a chisel.
After murdering him 'in cold blood' at their home in Northampton on November 1, 2021, the 'highly capable' teacher told friends they had both tested positive for Covid so she would not be disturbed while she buried him in the garden.
Mr Billingham's body went undiscovered for four months before police found Beal's journal, in which she wrote how her lover asked 'why?' when she knifed him.
They then dug up the garden and uncovered his mummified remains wrapped in sheeting in a makeshift grave filled with compost and ten 22.5kg bags of Cotswold Stone that she bought from B&Q especially for the purpose.
Fiona Beal, 50, has admitted to murdering her 42-year-old boyfriend Nicholas Billingham. She's seen in a mugshot released today
Beal buried her boyfriend in a makeshift grave filled with compost and ten 22.5kg bags of Cotswold Stone that she bought from B&Q especially for the purpose
Mr Billingham's body went undiscovered in the garden of their Northampton home (pictured) for four months
Beal had initially pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter by reason of of a loss of control, but denied murdering Mr Billingham between October 30 and November 10 2021.
A jury at the Old Bailey heard today that she had changed her plea.
Judge Mark Lucraft told her: 'You have this morning pleaded guilty to murder, which as you have no doubt been told, carries a sentence of life imprisonment.'
As the jury left the courtroom, a tearful Beal wiped her eyes with a tissue.
After murdering her partner, Beal sent messages to friends claiming they were both ill with Covid and had to isolate.
Prosecutor Hugh Davies, KC, told the Old Bailey: 'Central to the plan was knowing that after stabbing him, if she claimed she had Covid, she would have 10 days to bury him and cover up her crime.
'And that's exactly what happened. She was thinking about what time was best to do it, whether he would be snoring, but she knew or visualised it would be by stabbing him ''left to right, down slight right''. And that's what she did - she stabbed him in his jugular vein in his neck.'
Beal murdered Mr Billingham in their bedroom late on November 1.
Mr Davies continued: The clean-up started as early as 01.07am on 2 November. Using her dead partner's account, and then hers on Amazon, she bought multiple cleaning products, including for Venetian blinds, a new mop and bucket, ultra heavy duty bin bags, a new mattress, bedding, clothing, wall art and mirrors.
'This is considered, controlled, conduct that is on the one hand intrinsically practical, and on the other indulgent. On 1 November she manufactured a positive Covid test result-all you had to do was complete the NHS questionnaire online app self-report a positive test.
'There is no evidence she ever did a PCR test. Her actions in the next 10 days are wholly inconsistent with having the exhausting effects of Covid which she was claiming to be experiencing.'
Beal also sent messages to her sisters saying they had split up, with one message saying he left because he had had an affair with another woman.
Beal was captured leaving B&Q in Northampton, where she purchased ten 50 litre bags of compost, ten 22.5kg bags of Cotswold Stone and a grey plastic trough
Beal leaving the hardware store with her purchases on November 13, 2021
The murderer will remain in custody and be sentenced on May 29 and 30
Mr Billingham had affairs before and moved out of the home, but the couple had reconciled
The prosecution said the narrative that Mr Billingham had run off with another woman was 'completely false'. But jurors heard that Mr Billingham appeared to have cheated on Beal previously.
She returned to work 'fully discharging her considerable responsibilities as a teacher to Year 6 pupils' and receiving a 'sympathetic response' from people who had heard about her break-up.
Her mental health started to deteriorate in late February 2022, the court was told.
The following month, she rented a cabin in Cumbria and sent messages to family members which gave them cause for concern over her wellbeing, prompting them to call police to check on her, the prosecutor said.
In the cabin, police found journals 'written in her hand' that showed 'a wholly different side to her personality'.
Beal had written in her journal that Mr Billingham asked 'why?' after she stabbed him.
Mr Davies said: 'They certainly do contain some unambiguously clear declarations of what she had done. These parts were not just her truth, but the truth. What was this?
'The short answer is that she had planned to, and had, killed him in cold blood. She had purchased a forged handled utility knife in the days before. She had a chisel and cable ties.
'Promising sex after a bath, she stabbed him in the neck when he was wearing a sleep mask and was probably cabled-tied on their bed.'
The 'highly capable' teacher told friends the pair had tested positive for Covid so that she would not be disturbed while she buried Mr Billingham's body
Beal sent messages to her sisters that she and Mr Billingham had split up, with one message referencing that he left because of he had had an affair with another woman
The court previously heard that this was the second time a trial had started in the case, with a different jury - for a trial that took place in Northampton last year - discharged before the end of the evidence for legal reasons.
Following Beal's guilty plea today, Detective Chief Inspector Adam Pendlebury, from Northamptonshire Police, said: 'We are pleased Fiona Beal has now taken the decision to admit she did indeed murder Nick Billingham and hope that it brings the start of some closure to his family who have faced a torrid time for more than two years, including sitting through the original trial in Northampton in 2023.
'Today's news will have come as a great relief as they await her sentencing next month.'
Beal will remain in custody and be sentenced on May 29 and 30.
Fiona Beal's original murder trial collapsed after more than four months when it emerged that a key defence witness was a court custody officer who had conducted welfare checks on her in the cells.
Northampton Crown Court Judge Adrienne Lucking KC ordered a retrial after the legal 'mistake' in June last year, bringing an end to a 17-week hearing which had only been expected to last around three weeks.
Restrictions were put in place postponing media reporting of evidence given by defence witness Rachel Drummond, without the judge or prosecution being told in advance that she was employed at the court.
Beal pleaded guilty to murder at the Old Bailey on Friday, having claimed to have experienced a 'loss of control' when she stabbed Nicholas Billingham and buried his body at their home in Moore Street, Northampton, in 2021.
Explaining her reasons for discharging the original jury, Judge Lucking said she had not recognised Ms Drummond during her evidence-in-chief and there were no means available to continue the trial and 'ensure a fair verdict and a safe conviction'.
Beal had written in her journal that Mr Billingham asked 'why?' after she stabbed him, the court heard
Ms Drummond told the court she had not seen Beal - who claimed to be the victim of coercive and controlling behaviour by Mr Billingham - for around seven years, having previously visited her home.
In the words of Judge Lucking, Ms Drummond described observing a relationship that had the hallmarks of an abusive relationship with a serious impact on the defendant's well-being, supporting the defence case.
The prosecution case at the original trial was that Beal killed Mr Billingham because she suspected he was having an affair, and that their relationship was not controlling or coercive.
According to Ms Drummond's account, Beal was reluctant to go out and seemed to think she should be at home, while Mr Billingham would put his partner down, behaved as if he did not like her very much, and criticised her dress sense.
After Ms Drummond's role as a security officer became known to the judge and the prosecution during cross-examination, the witness said she had last spoken to Beal in September 2022, during a series of welfare checks as part of her work in the cells.
Ms Drummond was the officer who brought Beal 'off the van' and had spoken to her for just a few moments, the court heard.
She had also informed her employer, GeoAmey, that she knew Beal and they took steps to ensure there was no further work-related contact between them.
In a legal ruling, Judge Lucking said she had not recognised Ms Drummond before the cross-examination or picked out her name on a witness list provided before the trial.
The judge said she had not initially recognised the witness in the witness box, or when she spoke, in all likelihood because she was 'not on notice to expect anyone I knew or was a member of the custody staff in the witness box'.
Previous contact involving the judge and Ms Drummond identified in the ruling included 'pleasantries at the end of court days on many occasions' and contact and/or conversation in the cells during reviews of the court's facilities, as well as trips to deliver cake to staff on the judge's birthday.
The ruling discharging the original jury said: 'Counsel for the prosecution says that the fact this witness was a GeoAmey custody officer in Northampton was a complete surprise to them.
'They were unaware of the fact before they asked the question about her occupation in cross-examination.
'Counsel for the defence said that they knew that the witness was a custody officer at Northampton but considered that as it had been arranged for Ms Drummond to be deployed elsewhere in the course of the trial no difficulties arose.
'Leading counsel has taken responsibility for this decision which they accept now, with the benefit of hindsight, was a mistake.
'The defence also accept that as the trial judge I should have been told at that hearing that there was a possibility that an employee at this court might give evidence in the trial.
'There was never a decision to actively conceal the fact from the court.'
The judge continued: 'Had I been made aware before the trial of the fact that there was a possibility that an employee in this building might be giving direct evidence in relation to a matter in issue in a trial, I would have directed this trial be sent to another court centre at which the witness had never worked.
'Ms Drummond has given evidence that she saw at first hand the impact of Mr Billingham's behaviour upon the defendant inside the family home over several years at close quarters.
'Her evidence has the obvious potential to be of very great importance to the jury. Her evidence was strongly supportive of the defendant's case in respect of both of the partial defences to murder.
'The court needs to address the fact that an important witness is giving evidence in the court in which they are employed, before a judge to whom they are known and in support of a defendant cared for by her colleagues.'
Opting to end the first hearing, which was delayed by issues of law, illness and evidence-related adjournments, the judge added: 'There have been Herculean efforts by the prosecution, defence, expert witnesses and jurors alike to ensure this trial could continue.
'The cost to the public purse will be very great.
'The personal cost to all involved in the case, including the defendant, the jury, their families and employers or colleagues and the families of Nicholas Billingham and the defendant, will be great.
'I have considered whether an adjournment of any length to investigate the events in the custody suite would illuminate the present issue but have concluded that it would not.
'A direction (to the jury) cannot cure this mistake.'