Fiona Beal sentenced to life for murder
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Former Northampton primary schoolteacher Fiona Beal was today (Thursday, May 30) starting a life sentence for murdering her boyfriend, Nick Billingham.
Beal appeared for sentencing at a two-day hearing at the Old Bailey in London having changed her plea to guilty to murder last month just a few days into the retrial of her case.
The 50-year-old had initially admitted only the manslaughter of Mr Billingham at the house they shared in Moore Street, Kingsley, sometime between October 30 and November 10, 2021.
Sentencing her to serve a minimum term of 20 years, The Recorder of London, His Honour Judge Mark Lucraft KC, described Beal’s lack of remorse as well as the “significant degree of planning and pre-meditation” she showed in murdering Nick.
“Not only did you kill Nick Billingham,” he said. “You intended to do so. And having moved and buried his body in the garden, you lied to his mother, his numerous friends and family, as well as your own family, about what you had done.”
Describing Beal’s contact with Nick’s mother following the killing, including the pre-Christmas drink at the house in Moore Street as well as the text messages sent from Nick’s phone, Judge Lucraft said: “These can only be described as truly callous acts.”
Beal showed no emotion as her sentenced was passed.
Hugh Davies KC, prosecuting for the Crown, had earlier told the hearing that Beal had carried out the “controlled execution” of her 42-year-old partner before burying his body in the back garden of their home while claiming she was off work due to a Covid infection.
Mr Billingham’s remains were finally discovered by Northamptonshire Police in March 2022 after Beal had been found in a distressed state at a holiday lodge cabin in Cumbria where she had self-harmed.
The trigger for a decline in her mental health had likely been, the court was told, a visit to her home by a PCSO concerned for the safety of Mr Billingham’s van that was parked near a tree during heavy storms in February 2022, nearly four months after the murder.
Inside the holiday home, police recovered a handwritten “confession journal” in which Beal had detailed how she had planned the murder and disposal of his body.
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Within the journal, Beal detailed an alter-ego personality she called “Tulip 22” who, the jury had been told at the start of her retrial, was “capable of wholly different and darker conduct than her public persona of committed teacher and parent”.
Police discovered a bloodstained mattress in the cellar of the home and Mr Billingham’s partly decomposed body was discovered buried under the side return of her terraced house in Northampton.
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Mr Davies yesterday told the court that Beal had lured her victim to bed on the promise of sex but instead had stabbed him in the neck causing fatal blood loss. It was almost certain that he had been cable-tied to the bed at the time of the lethal attack, the court heard.
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Describing the discovery by Northamptonshire Police of Mr Billingham’s body, Mr Davies said: “His grave was an extraordinary construction of makeshift layers of sheeting, concrete she had mixed, a de facto coffin with sides and a top of breeze blocks, timber, sheets, all topped off with multiple bags of compost. She added a pot plant for decorative effect.
“The body was partly decomposed, indeed mummified, on its back. Ancient Egyptians buried Pharaohs with their treasure - Nick Billingham was unceremoniously entombed with his building waste and unwanted old bedsheets and blankets. It demonstrated nothing but complete contempt.”
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University-educated Beal returned to her teaching role for several months in the wake of the murder but had continued to use her partner’s phone to send messages to his family and friends as if he were alive, including one text, on December 30 2021, to his mother to say he had been to see his beloved Manchester United at Old Trafford and was looking forward to the New Year.
Beal, a heavy user of strong cannabis, had also used the phone to view pornography on a frequent basis and go online shopping using her victim’s bank account.
Mr Davies told the court: “Her conduct afterwards is an exercise in self-control, deception and concealing her crime, she carried on at work and in her personal life as normal…Stated shortly and simply she was obviously not entitled – any more than any other person is who is in an unhappy relationship – to start a new life by ending that of her partner.”
Mr Davies finished by reading the Victim Impact Statement of Mr Billingham’s mother, Yvonne Valentine, in which she said: “I want you to spend the rest of your life going over what you did to Nick, the pain and suffering that you put him through when you killed him and the total disregard for him as a human being when you buried him like he was a piece of rubbish in his own back garden.
“I want you to remember that he will always be loved and that he will always be missed.
"You have faced judgement in court and will now have to face God’s judgement for eternity. You are pure evil.”
Andrew Wheeler KC, mitigating, said Beal was of previous good character and had been a “fantastic” teacher at her primary school, adding that the defendant had a long history of depression. She had shown courage, he said, in pleading guilty to murder.
Beal originally went on trial for murder at Northampton Crown court last March, but after a hearing that lasted almost four months, the case collapsed for legal reasons.
Today’s sentencing remarks by the Judge were broadcast live on TV.
Timeline of events
Fiona Beal was a 47-year-old, university-educated teacher at Eastfield Primary Academy, living in Moore Street, Kingsley Northampton, with her partner of more than 17 years, Nick Billingham, aged 42. That morning she calls a school colleague to say she is feeling sick, confirming two days later in a text to the headteacher; “Hey, had a rough couple of days, Nick is far worse as not vaccinated”. In follow-up messages in the coming days, she confirms she will have to isolate until November 11.
In her second trial, the moment at which Beal told family they were not to be disturbed, Hugh Davies KC, prosecuting, pointedly told jurors: “It was the latter-day equivalent of painting a red cross on your door during the Great Plague of London in 1665”.
Regular text messages are sent from Nick Billingham’s phone to work colleagues, Beal herself – one implying a breakdown in their relationship and questions were beginning to be asked as to his whereabouts. At one point a message sent on Nick’s phone to his mother, read: “All good we’re in Manchester for New Year…just watched Utd beat Burnley at Old Trafford. Back to Essex Sunday.”
Beal, meanwhile, had given her house a substantial internal makeover and as late as February 24, was helping to run a school trip for Year 6 pupils to London.
A few weeks earlier, there had been a possible turning point. In early February 2022, during heavy storms, a PCSO knocked at her door in Moore Street. The PCSO said a van registered to Nick was in potential danger from fallen trees and might need to be moved. While relieved the inquiry was nothing more, Beal would by now have known police were seeking him.
Beal texts her headteacher saying “things aren’t right” raising concerns about her mental health.
Alerted to her disappearance Beal is tracked down to a lodge at a holiday park in the Lake District and engages with police. Three days later, however, amid escalating concerns for her wellbeing, police revisit the lodge to find Beal in the bath and evidence of an attempt to cut her wrists. She is taken to hospital for a mental health assessment.
Within the lodge, however, officers recover a journal which details her planning and then murder of Nick, and the considerable efforts she then went to in order to dispose of his body – Nick was 5ft 11in and weighed about 14 stone - by burying him in her back garden. Nick had been fatally stabbed in the neck when wearing a sleep mask and, the prosecution later alleged, was probably cable-tied to the bed. Post-mortem tests reveal her victim would likely have died from blood loss.
Beal’s journal also details the emergence of a dark alter-ego which she calls “Tulip 22” far removed from her public persona.
It now becomes obvious to police that Nick had not had contact with anyone since the afternoon of November 1, 2021, some four-and-a-half months earlier.
Police and forensic teams begin a search of the Moore Street address and eventually find Nick’s partly decomposed, mummified body, in the side return of the garden. The jury was told: “His grave was an extraordinary construction of makeshift layers of sheeting, concrete she had mixed, a de-facto coffin with sides and a top of breeze blocks, timber, sheets all topped off with multiple bags of compost. She added a pot plant for decorative effect.”
Beal is charged with murder at Northampton Magistrates Court and remanded in custody.
Beal goes on trial at Northampton Crown Court. The case collapses due to legal reasons on June 22 after more than three months.
Beal admits manslaughter of Nick, but denies murder, goes on trial for the second time, this time at the Old Bailey in London. In the prosecution’s opening statement, the jury learn Beal was a habitual cannabis user and are told they will see video evidence of Beal purchasing multiple items from a local B&Q on November 13, 2022, including compost and bark chippings.
Summing up, Mr Davies tells them: “This (the murder) was a controlled exercise not a spontaneous reaction, but rather a chilling execution”.
In a dramatic turn of events, Beal changes her plea and admits to murdering Nick Billingham.
After a two-day sentencing hearing at the Central Criminal Court, Beal is sentenced to 20 years in prison. The sentencing remarks of The Recorder of London, Judge Mark Lucraft KC are broadcast live on TV.
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