Northampton primary teacher admits murder of boyfriend she buried in her back garden

• Sophie Wiggins reports for ITV News Anglia from outside the Old Bailey

A primary school teacher has admitted murdering her partner and burying his body in their garden, after changing her plea a week into her retrial.

Fiona Beal, 50, had previously admitted the manslaughter of 42-year-old Nicholas Billingham but denied the more serious charge.

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.

Mr Billingham's partly-mummified remains were discovered in March 2022, four-and-a-half months after he was last seen.

The court had previously heard how the Year 6 teacher had told friends she and Mr Billingham had contracted Covid in November 2021, meaning that the pair had to isolate.

Beal was accused of killing Mr Billingham between 30 October and 10 November 2021.

The teacher, of Moore Street, Northampton, was arrested in March 2022 after police discovered the body.

Forensic officers and specialist search teams were deployed to the address before the discovery was made.

The court heard her actions were revealed through journal entries discovered by police at a cabin in Cumbria Beal had rented as her mental health deteriorated.

In the cabin, police found journals “written in her hand” that showed “a wholly different side to her personality”.

Opening the trial, prosecutor Hugh Davies KC said: “They certainly do contain some unambiguously clear declarations of what she had done. These parts were not just her truth, but the truth. What was this?

“The short answer is that she had planned to, and had, killed him in cold blood. She had purchased a forged handled utility knife in the days before. She had a chisel and cable ties.

“Promising sex after a bath, she stabbed him in the neck when he was wearing a sleep mask and was probably cabled-tied on their bed.”

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, the court heard.

Mr Davies described how Mr Billingham’s “grave” comprised of concrete she had mixed and a “de facto coffin” made of breeze blocks, timber and sheets.

'Sustained and dishonest'

Last week, prosecutor Mr Davies told jurors that Beal, “a high-functioning professional”, messaged several people on 1 November 2021 – and in the days after – that she and Mr Billingham had contracted Covid-19 and needed to isolate.

The prosecutor called the narrative “sustained and dishonest” and told jurors there is “no evidence” that Beal took a Covid test.

The court heard similar messages were sent from Mr Billingham’s phone from 2 November.

Mr Davies told jurors the messages from Mr Billingham’s phone were Beal “pretending to be him” in a move that was “as heartless as it was self-serving”.

On 8 November, jurors heard that 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.

The prosecution said the narrative that Mr Billingham had run off with another woman was “completely false”.

But jurors heard that Mr Billingham appeared to have cheated on Beal previously.

She returned to work “fully discharging her considerable responsibilities as a teacher to Year 6 pupils” and receiving a “sympathetic response” from people who had heard about her break-up.

The court previously heard that this was the second time a trial had started in the case, with a different jury – for a trial that took place in Northampton last year – discharged before the end of the evidence for legal reasons.

Det Ch Insp Adam Pendlebury of Northamptonshire Police said: "We are pleased Fiona Beal has now taken the decision to admit she did indeed murder Nick Billingham and hope that it brings the start of some closure to his family who have faced a torrid time for more than two years, including sitting through the original trial in Northampton in 2023.

“Today’s news will have come as a great relief as they await her sentencing next month.”

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