Murdered man's mum had Christmas drink with killer Fiona Beal at Northampton home where son buried

The mother of a man who was stabbed to death by his partner has spoken about the moment she shared a drink with his killer - not knowing she was just metres from where her son was buried.

Primary school teacher Fiona Beal admitted murdering Nicholas Billingham, 42 and burying him in the garden of their home in Moore Street in Northampton.

The pair had been together for 17 years when Beal created an alter-ego to plot the killing, which happened some time between 31 October and 10 November 2021.

In her diaries, she wrote that hiding the body was "much more difficult than it looks on TV".

Mr Billingham's mother, Yvonne Valentine, said she remembered visiting the house around Christmas time.

"I walked into the living room and I said 'Have had a turn round of your furniture?' because it all looked different.

"Fiona offered me a Christmas drink and I said 'oh yes, thank you'. So I'm sat there with this drink and it always gets to me because Nick was out there buried in the garden just a few feet away and I didn't know he was there.

"I try not to think about it too much but when I do, it's sort of draining. It drains you. It's just horrible."

Ms Valentine said her first-born had been a "very loving little boy".

"He was cheeky, mischievous - all the things boys are like. He had friends, he loved his football," she said in comments filmed with the media last year, and released on the day her son's killer pleaded guilty.

"How you could hate somebody that much to do what she did? I just can't believe it,"

"And apparently, his last word after she stabbed him was 'Why?'"

Beal, 50, had previously admitted the manslaughter of Mr Billingham but denied the more serious charge of murder, claiming the relationship had been coercive and controlling.

But a week into her retrial at the Old Bailey in London, she changed her plea.

She will be sentenced on May 29 and 30.

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