A primary school teacher accused of stabbing her partner to death “in cold blood” before burying him in the garden has pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
Fiona Beal, 50, admits murdering her boyfriend Nicholas Billingham, 42, whose partially mummified remains were found four-and-a-half months after he was last seen.
A jury at the Old Bailey on Friday heard Beal pleaded guilty to the lesser offense of manslaughter because he lost control, but he denied killing Mr Billingham between October 30 and November 10, 2021.
Opening the trial, prosecutor Hugh Davies KC said: “There is no dispute that he killed Nick Billingham, hid his body where it was found and acted alone throughout. There is no dispute that he planned to kill her.
“He pleaded guilty to the lesser offense of manslaughter. He pleaded guilty to this crime. He denies being guilty of murder. “His defense is based on a partial defense against alleged murder.”
The teacher, of Moore Street, Northampton, was arrested in March 2022 after police discovered the body.
Before the discovery was made, forensic medicine officers and expert search teams were dispatched to the address.
The court heard his actions were revealed in diary entries discovered by police.
Mr Davies told jurors that Beal, a “high-functioning professional”, texted several people on November 1, 2021 and in the following days to say that he and Mr Billingham had contracted Covid-19 and needed to quarantine.
The court heard similar messages were sent from Mr Billingham’s phone from November 2.
Mr Davies told jurors that messages from Mr Billingham’s phone showed Beal “acting like himself” and that the move was “as heartless as it was self-serving”.
On November 8, jurors heard Beal sent messages to his sisters saying he and Mr Billingham had broken up, with one message referring to Beal breaking up because he was having an affair with another woman.
The prosecution said the narrative that Mr Billingham had eloped with another woman was “completely false”.
Beal returned to work “full discharge of his significant responsibilities as a teacher to his Grade 6 students” and received a “sympathetic response” from people who heard of his departure.
His mental health began to deteriorate in late February 2022, the court was told.
The prosecutor said that in March that year he rented a cottage for himself in Cumbria and sent messages to family members that made them concerned about his welfare, prompting them to call the police to check on him.
Police found “handwritten” diaries in the cabin that showed “a completely different side of his personality.”
Mr Davies said: “They certainly contain some clear-cut statements about what he did. These parts were not only his truth, but the truth. What was this?
“The short answer is that he planned to kill her in cold blood, and he did. The previous days he had bought a utility knife with a fake handle. He had a chisel and cable ties.
“As they promised sex after the bath, the man stabbed her in the neck while she was wearing a sleeping mask and possibly wired in bed.”
The prosecutor continued: “In short, throughout these documents Fiona Beal introduces themes of being controlled and manipulated in the relationship; that his insecurity was exaggerated rather than supported by her attitude; Because of the unpleasant things he did… and that explains why he killed her.
“She introduces insight into her own split personality and alter ego, summoning Tulip 22, who may exhibit completely different and darker behavior than her public persona of devoted teacher.”
Jurors heard one participant say: “My actions still bother me. Sometimes I have to catch myself and remember what I’m doing, and then I have to remember my cover story; “Neither of them seem believable.”
Another detailed the attack plan Beal wrote: “It was harder than I thought. Hiding a body was bad. Moving a body is a lot harder than it looks on TV.”
The court heard the diaries triggered a police investigation, which found Mr Billingham had not been seen or spoken to by phone since the afternoon of November 1, 2021.
Mr Davies told jurors: “Fiona Beal, who made up and perpetuated a cynical lie to everyone she texted or spoke to about Covid isolation, had planned and secured the house to herself for at least 10 days after the murder.”
“He used this time to purchase multiple items to dispose of her body.
“Acting on his own, he wrapped his arms around his dead partner and dragged him down the stairs, destroying the banisters upstairs to do so. Even when he recovered months later he was 5ft 11in tall and weighed around 14 stone.
“He buried her in the back of his garden.”
Mr Davies described Mr Billingham’s “grave” as consisting of concrete he mixed himself and a “de facto coffin” made of plastic blocks, timber and boards.
He called it a “big job” that required planning.
“Planning, executing, deceiving: the usual pattern,” Mr Davies said.
The trial continues.