Northampton Crown & County Courts, Image: Google Maps
A primary school teacher faces the charge of murdering her boyfriend after his remains were found in the garden.
Fiona Beal, 49, a primary school teacher, of Moore Street appeared in Northampton Crown Court for the fatal stabbing of her long-term partner, Nicholas Billingham, 42.
She is alleged to have stabbed him in the neck after luring him to bed before hiding his corpse in their garden.
Beal's diary was referenced to the jury by prosecutor Steven Perian KC in which revealed her "chilling" confession, as she wrote in detail of the incident.
She had supposedly called in with COVID-19 to her headteacher around the time of murder, giving her 10 days with an alibi to stay at home.
Returning after the made up quarantine, she said she had split from her partner and it was considered nothing more.
It wasn't until she phoned in sick on March 6 2022 that she had vacationed to a lodge in Cumbria, shortly after her family called the police with concerns for her wellbeing.
The authorties found her with a supposed suicide note and her journal on March 15 2022, she was taken to the Royal Lancaster Infirmary when the police had read through her writing to come to the idea that she had killed Billingham.
Piecing this with other evidence, Perian alleged that Beal had fatally stabbed her boyfriend in November 2021, finding his body four months since he had been seen at work.
Defence KC Andrew Wheeler argued that it's not as black and white as murder, but a matter of mental health:
“There is no dispute in this case that she unlawfully killed Nicholas Billingham. What this case is really about is her state of mind.
"He was, as you will hear, psychologically domineering and, over the years, wore her down...
She was worn down until she was quite literally broken."
Brought in as evidence, the court heard extracts from her diary in which she describes her lover of 17 years as a 'vile' and cruel man.
“I suppose I ought to explain what happened to get me to this point. My mental health had been deteriorating. Whenever he was cheating he would up the ante on belittling, moaning and criticising.”
“I have to confess. Ok here goes. October 2021. He spat on me and threatened me during sex. I thought about leaving but the things he said and did fuelled my dark side. I call her Tulip22, she’s reckless, fearless and efficient. Ruthless.
“I had a bath. I left the water in. 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 hid 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. It was harder than I thought it would be. Hiding a body was bad. Moving a body is much more difficult than it looks on TV.”
The prosecution retorted against the idea she wasn't of sound mind as prosecutor Perian said:
“Her chilling confession of what she did and how she did it, the Crown say, all point towards the fact that at the time of stabbing Nicholas Billingham in the neck the defendant knew what she was doing.”
Beal has denied the murder, the trial continues...
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