Teacher kills boyfriend of 17 years and hides body in her garden

A primary school teacher stabbed her boyfriend to death then hid his body in her back garden for months, a court has heard.

Fiona Beal, 49, is accused of killing her partner Nicholas Billingham and disposing of him after she called in sick to her workplace, saying she had Covid.

She allegedly believed he was cheating on her again after a string of infidelities throughout their 17-year relationship – with one of the women he slept with becoming pregnant and having his child.

Prosecutors said Beal had stabbed the 42-year-old in her bedroom, bought items from B&Q, then buried him in her garden.

The jury heard she then left a ‘chilling’ journal at a rental property in the Lake District, detailing how she had committed a murder – and blaming it on a dark alter ago she called Tulip22.

The Year 6 teacher was arrested in March 2022, after police discovered Mr Billingham’s body under carpet wrapped in a bedsheet, duvet and cable ties and buried in her back garden in Kingsley, Northampton.

The 42-year-old builder had been missing since the end of October 2021, with the jury being told the murder was likely to have taken place on November 1.

The jury heard she then left a ‘chilling’ journal at a rental property in the Lake District, detailing how she had committed a murder – and blaming it on a dark alter ago she called Tulip22.

A fellow teacher at Eastfield Academy had raised concerns with officers after Beal was found to have lied about being absent due to the coronavirus, the court was told.

The prosecutor said Beal told police she had been looking for some ‘some peace and quiet’.

Police found a suspected suicide note and Beal lying in the bath with her wrists cut. She was then sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

Beal denies murder, with her defence arguing it is a case of manslaughter as she was ‘worn down until she was quite literally broken’ by the ‘psychologically domineering’ Mr Billingham.

The trial continues.

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