This is the moment a murderous teacher who stabbed her boyfriend and buried his mummified body in her garden was filmed dancing in front of her students just months before.
Fiona Beal, 50, plotted the murder of builder Nick Billingham, 42, in her diary, where she wrote under her alter ego, ‘Tulip22’, before purchasing a knife and chisel.
After murdering him ‘in cold blood’ at his Northampton home on November 1, 2021, the teacher told her friends they had both tested positive for Covid so they would not disturb her while she buried him in the garden.
He previously admitted manslaughter by loss of control, but denied murder; However, he drastically changed his statement on Friday at the Old Bailey.
Now pictures have emerged of the primary school teacher dancing without a care in the world in front of a class at Eastfield Academy in Northampton.
The primary school teacher is seen dancing without a care in the world in front of a class at Eastfield Academy in Northampton just months before killing her boyfriend.
She is seen waving her arms in the air in front of a class full of students.
The murderer is seen performing a dance routine and laughing at the school where she taught
The video in which the students saw the killer dance was published by the school in December 2020.
Fiona Beal (pictured) admitted murdering her boyfriend Nicholas Billingham, 42
Nick Billingham, pictured in a Man United football shirt, was found by police shortly after officers discovered a notebook with a “chilling” confession inside following a suicide attempt.
To cover his tracks after Mr. Billingham’s murder, Beal sent this text message to his mother Yvonne Valentine on December 30, 2021, posing as her deceased son.
In the video obtained by Mirror, The killer is seen performing a dance routine and laughing at the school where he taught sixth grade.
The school published it in December 2020, during the pandemic. Post X said: “Year 6 has a dance to get us going.”
In another post from March 2021, Beal is shown reading on the social media page for World Book Day.
When looking at the images and the photo, many would be surprised to discover that she was the same person who brutally stabbed her boyfriend to death.
Mr Billingham’s body lay undetected for four months before police found Beal’s diary, in which she wrote how her lover asked “why?” when she stabbed him.
They then dug up the garden and discovered his mummified remains wrapped in sheets in a makeshift grave filled with compost and ten 22.5kg bags of Cotswold stone he bought from B&Q especially for the purpose.
After she admitted murdering him, Judge Mark Lucraft told her: “This morning you pleaded guilty to murder, which, as you have no doubt been told, carries a penalty of life imprisonment.”
After murdering his partner, Beal sent messages to friends claiming that they were both sick with Covid and had to isolate.
Prosecutor Hugh Davies, KC, told the Old Bailey: “At the heart of the plan was knowing that after stabbing him, if he claimed he had Covid, he would have 10 days to bury him and cover up his crime.
Mr Billingham’s mother, Yvonne, who visited Beal after she murdered her son and chatted to her, while his killer knew he was dead in a makeshift grave yards away.
Beal pictured with her buried boyfriend, whom she buried in a makeshift grave filled with compost and ten 22.5kg bags of Cotswold stone she bought at B&Q.
Mr Billingham’s body lay unnoticed in the garden of his home (pictured) for months.
And that’s exactly what happened. She was thinking about what was the best time to do it, whether she would be snoring, but she knew or visualized that she would be stabbing him “from left to right, slightly down to the right.” And that’s what she did: she stabbed him in the jugular vein in her neck.
Beal murdered Mr Billingham in his bedroom late on 1 November.
Mr Davies continued: The clean-up began at 1.07am on 2 November. Using her deceased partner’s account, and then her own on Amazon, she purchased several cleaning supplies, including Venetian blinds, a new mop and bucket, ultra-strong garbage bags, a new mattress, bedding, clothing, wall art and mirrors.
‘This is considered, controlled behavior that is, on the one hand, intrinsically practical and, on the other, indulgent. On November 1, he tested positive for Covid; all you had to do was complete the NHS app’s online questionnaire to self-report a positive test.
‘There is no evidence that he ever had a PCR test. His actions over the next 10 days are totally inconsistent with the exhausting effects of Covid that he claimed to be experiencing.
Beal also sent messages to his sisters saying they had broken up, and one message said he left because he had had an affair with another woman.
Prosecutors said the story that Billingham had eloped with another woman was “completely false.” But jurors heard that Billingham appeared to have deceived Beal before.
She returned to work “fully fulfilling her considerable responsibilities as a sixth form teacher” and receiving a “sympathetic response” from people who had found out about their breakup.
His mental health began to deteriorate in late February 2022, the court was told.
The following month he rented a cottage in Cumbria and sent messages to relatives who were concerned for his well-being, prompting them to call the police to check on him, the prosecutor said.
In the cabin, police found diaries “written in his own handwriting” that showed “a completely different side of his personality.”
Beal had written in his diary that Mr. Billingham asked “why?” after she stabbed him.
Beal leaving the hardware store with his purchases on November 13, 2021
The murderer will remain detained and will be sentenced on May 29 and 30
Mr Davies said: “They certainly contained some unequivocally clear statements 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 kill him in cold blood, and she had. The days before she had bought a utility knife with a forged handle. It had a chisel and cable ties.
“She promised him sex after the bath and stabbed him in the neck while he was wearing a sleeping mask and was probably tied up with wires in his bed.”
The court previously heard that this was the second time a trial had begun in the case, with a different jury – for a trial which took place in Northampton last year – dismissed before the end of evidence for legal reasons.
Following Beal’s guilty plea today, Detective Chief Inspector Adam Pendlebury, of Northamptonshire Police, said: “We are pleased that Fiona Beal has made the decision to admit that she did murder Nick Billingham and we hope this marks the beginning closure for his family. who have faced a torrid time for more than two years, including the original trial in Northampton in 2023.
“Today’s news will have been a huge relief as they await sentencing next month.”
Beal will remain in custody and will be sentenced on May 29 and 30.
Mr Billingham had affairs before and moved out of the house, but the couple had reconciled.
The “highly capable” teacher told friends the couple had tested positive for Covid so they would not disturb her while she buried Mr Billingham’s body.
After pleading guilty, Billingham’s mother Yvonne said it pained her to know her son’s killer offered him a drink while he was buried just yards away.
She said: ‘Nick was my firstborn and he was a very loving boy, cheeky, mischievous, things that children are. He had friends, he loved football.
“How you can hate someone so much to do what she did, I can’t believe, and apparently his last word was ‘why’ when she stabbed him in the neck.”
Recounting an occasion after her son’s death, she added: “I walked into the house and into the living room and the first thing I thought was, ‘Oh, you’ve turned all your furniture around.’
“Fiona offered me a Christmas drink and I said thank you so I sat there with this drink but it always gets to me because Nick was buried in the garden just a few meters away and I didn’t know he was there.
“I try not to think about it too much, but I do, it’s horrible.”
