Primary school teacher murdered cheating boyfriend in ‘chilling domestic execution’
Fiona Beal, 50, stabbed her boyfriend Nick Billingham, 42, in the neck and buried his body in the garden of their Northampton home. Beal told friends they had tested positive for Covid-19 so she would not be disturbed while she buried his body. His mummified body was found four months later wrapped in a makeshift grave after Beal’s journals, where she plotted the killing as her alter ego “Tulip22,” were found by police.
Beal, a “highly capable and highly respected teacher,” spent months using her partner’s phone to message his friends and relatives pretending he was still alive and had moved in with another woman. Mr. Billingham’s body was found at the home he shared with Beal in March 2022.
Beal has admitted manslaughter but denies murder, claiming “loss of control.” Prosecutor Hugh Davies told the jury that Beal had planned the murder and purchased a knife in advance. Beal claims to have forgotten most of the month of November 2021, but the prosecution invites the jury to reject that claim. A post-mortem examination revealed that Mr. Billingham died from a single stab wound to the neck.
In his opening speech to the jury, defense barrister Andrew Wheeler said that the case is not as straightforward as the prosecution suggests and that Beal was in a “coercive and controlling relationship” with Mr. Billingham. The trial is set to last six weeks.
