Twisted primary school teacher Fiona Beal deceptively tried to cover up the brutal murder of her boyfriend.
Beal, who was today jailed for life and told she will serve a minimum of 20 years in prison, harrowingly lured her partner, Nick Billingham, 42, into their bedroom for sex and then stabbed him to death on November 1, 2021. She then dumped his body inside a makeshift grave, which police uncovered after reading her confession in her journals, written under her alter-ego 'Tulip22'.
The teacher, from Northampton, phoned in sick to work to cover her tracks and told people he had left her for another woman. She used his phone to send messages to friends and family, pretending he was alive but had Covid. Prosecutor Steven Perian KC told the Old Bailey the messages showed Beal's "true cunning, cruel, deceptive and devious nature".
Beal pretended her boyfriend Nick had run away with another woman (Northamptonshire Police / SWNS)
She deceivingly sent messages to his family and friends on his phone (Northamptonshire Police / SWNS)Prosecutor Hugh Davies, KC, told the court: "She murdered him in their bedroom late on November 1. The clean-up started as early as 01.07am on November 2. Using her dead partner's account, and then hers on Amazon, she bought multiple cleaning products, including for Venetian blinds, a new mop and bucket, ultra heavy duty bin bags, a new mattress, bedding, clothing, wall art and mirrors.
"It is the more so given she must literally have watched her partner bleed to death in front of her. Later that same day she changes a Tesco order, itself already containing multiple cleaning products, to add three rolls of duct tape. At 2.19pm she purchased heavy duty long gardening gloves, a stainless steel digging spade and a galvanised incinerator bin garden leaves wood burner. To state the obvious, this was not for burning leaves."
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He continued: "There were further detailed and considered purchases on multiple other dates to continue and finish the job of cable-tying, wrapping and burying her partner in this makeshift tomb, as well as multiple purchases for her own comfort and indulgence by way of chocolates, scented candles, toiletries, soft furnishings and clothing. The way he was wrapped, with cables, hosepipes and plastic bags, building detritus afforded him no dignity in death."
The Year 6 teacher continued with her lies for months, telling her boyfriend's loved ones that he had moved in with another woman. She sent messages to her sisters saying they had split up, with one message claiming he left because he had an affair. Jurors heard that Mr Bellingham had cheated on her previously, in 2011 and again in 2018. The couple formed a relationship in 2004.
He begged for her forgiveness in a heart-wrenching letter, that was shared in court, where he told Beal she was "the most beautiful woman in the world" and was so "kind-hearted". He wrote: "I can only beg for your forgiveness one day. I can't see any future alone. My body, my heart, my love has been yours since I met you and will be yours until the day I die." He signed the letter: "I love you with all my heart, Nick."
She bought lots of cleaning products and a new mattress and bedding (PA)
Beal wrote confessions in her diary under her alter ego called Tulip22 (Northamptonshire Police / SWNS)On December 30, 2021, Beal sent the victim's mother Yvonne Valentine a message pretending to be her deceased son. She fooled her into thinking Mr Billingham had moved to Essex with a fictitious woman called Faye, and promised to contact her 'once things had calmed down'. It came just days after Beal had offered Yvonne a drink in her home and chatted with her, while her son lay dead in a makeshift grave in the garden.
In March 2022, police traced Beal to her holiday cottage in the Lake District after she had attempted suicide and discovered a "chilling" handwritten journal that showed "a wholly different side to her personality". In the diary, she described how she had killed an unnamed person under her alter-ego named Tulip22 after finally reaching "breaking point".
She wrote: "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 started plotting as Tulip22 after he'd gone to bed. I could no longer sleep in the bed due to my breathing being too loud or I moved too much or I was snoring or etc etc."
The notebook entry also read: "I called (Beal's headteacher) on the Monday and said we'd tested positive and had symptoms. He went to work. Tulip22 smoked and planned. I'd planned it mentally so many times before." She also spoke of the guilt that had been "strangling" her and said: "I am sorry I didn't leave him... I am sorry I am weak. I am sorry for what I did."
But she also wrote that "no ghosts had haunted her" and how her "move from passive victim" had reminded her of the 1991 film Thelma and Louise. A journal passage read out in court said: "Do I regret what I did? Of course I do, I'm not a monster. It had been building up for so long." She called her boyfriend an "unlikeable person" and said that "no one would've looked for him" after he died as "no one seemed bothered".
Another entry read: "Still my actions haunt me. I sometimes have to catch myself and remember what I did and then remember my cover story - neither seem convincing." The diary also detailed how she planned for the attack. Beal wrote: "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."
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