Fiona Beal: Murder victim wrote of his love for killer teacher

During her original trial, Fiona Beal said she had smoked "quite a lot of cannabis"

A primary school teacher stabbed her partner to death and buried his body in their garden after he declared his love "until the day I die", a court heard.

The partly mummified remains of 42-year-old Nicholas Billingham were found in Northampton in March 2022, more than four months after he was last seen alive.

Fiona Beal, 50, pleaded guilty to murder in April and appeared at the Old Bailey for the start of her two-day sentencing by Judge Mark Lucraft KC.

The hearing will conclude on Thursday.

Prosecutor Hugh Davies KC read out a letter Mr Billingham had written to Beal as part of couples counselling after he had an affair during their 17-year relationship.

In the letter, Mr Billingham accepted his faults and described Beal as "kind hearted", "generous" and "the most beautiful woman in the world".

He wrote: "I promise to never again belittle you or make you feel rubbish again.

"My body, my heart, my love has been yours since the day I met you and will be until the day I die. I love you with all my heart."

Mr Billingham's mother Yvonne attended Wednesday's hearing, during which Beal appeared solemn and was looking down.

• 'I had no idea my son's body was buried in the garden'

Nicholas Billingham's body was found four months after he went missing

On the day of his death, Mr Billingham had worked on a house renovation before returning to the home he shared with Beal in Northampton.

That evening, she killed him in a "carefully planned domestic execution", Mr Davies said.

Beal stabbed him in the neck and disposed of the body in the side return of their home like "building waste", Mr Davies said.

She covered her tracks with a false story that they had Covid and needed to isolate.

Similar messages were sent from Mr Billingham's phone from 2 November in which Beal pretended to be him.

On 8 November, Beal sent messages to her sisters saying she and Mr Billingham had split up, with one message saying he left because he had had an affair with another woman.

On her return to work, she received sympathy from those who had heard about the apparent break up.

Mr Billingham's remains were found at the house in Moore Street, near The Racecourse park in Northampton

Beal's 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 the police to check on her.

In the cabin, police found Beal's journals containing a confession to the killing.

They also included reference to her having a split personality and an alter ego she called Tulip 22.

She wrote: "I had smoked all day. I had a bath, I left the water in. He had been pushing for sex. I encouraged the bath with the incentive of sex afterwards.

"While he was in the bath I kept the knife in my dressing gown pocket and then I had it in the drawer next to the bed.

"I brought a chisel, bin bag and cable ties up too. I got him to wear an eye mask."

She went on: "My last words to him when he asked why was that he was not going to do to [another female] what he had done to me."

The journals triggered a police investigation, which soon established that Mr Billingham had not been seen or spoken to by telephone since the afternoon of 1 November 2021.

Beal was arrested in March 2022 after police discovered his body.

Mr Davies said Beal "planned to execute" Mr Billingham then "delivered a false narrative" so she could "conceal her crime".

All this was done while she continued "to deliver high-quality teaching to Year 6 pupils as if nothing had happened", Mr Davies said.

The hearing continues.

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