Nicholas Billingham murder: Why 'pure evil' teacher Fiona Beal killed partner, where she is now, and chilling journal entries
The shocking case is the focus of Killer in the House: The Murder of Nicholas Billingham on ITV
Killer in the House: The Murder of Nicholas Billingham re-examines the fatal stabbing of a man by the girlfriend he adored – primary school teacher Fiona Beal.
The true crime documentary, part of a new series, looks at the case of primary school teacher Fiona Beal. She plead guilty to the 2022 murder of her partner Nicholas Billingham. The programme reveals a “genuinely extraordinary murder” that involved the victim’s body being hidden in the garden of the family home for months.
To explain his disappearance, Fiona Beal claimed her long-term boyfriend had left her for another woman. Next week’s episode – Killer In The House: The Murders of Lesley Howell and Trevor Buchanan – explores the “extraordinary tale of a near-perfect murder”. The documentary examines the case of one of the UK’s most infamous double killings, Lesley Howell and Trevor Buchanan.
Here’s all the key details of Nicholas Billingham’s murder, including Fiona Beal’s motive, where she is now, and the chilling diary she kept about her actions.
Who killed Nicholas Billingham and how?
On November 01, 2021, primary school teacher Fiona Beal stabbed her boyfriend Nicholas Billingham to death in their Northampton home. Nicholas, a 42-year-old builder, was fatally wounded in the neck. The murder, which took place in the bedroom, was later described by prosecutors as a “carefully planned domestic execution”.
Fiona and Nicholas had been together for 17 years. The victim had worked on a house renovation on the day he died, before heading to his home on Moore Street to see his partner.
The killer had lured her victim to bed on the “promise of sex” but instead stabbed him in the neck causing fatal blood loss. He was likely tied to the bed with cable ties.
The murder and cover-up happened while Fiona Beal claimed she was off work due to Covid. She afterwards continued “to deliver high-quality teaching to year 6 pupils as if nothing had happened”, prosecutor Hugh Davies KC later said in court.
What did Fiona Beal do with Nicholas Billingham’s dead body?
After Nicholas bled to death in the bedroom they’d shared throughout their marriage, Fiona Beal’s calculated plans became more and more gruesome. She decided to conceal her dead boyfriend’s body in a side passage of their garden. She made a makeshift grave constructed from concrete, bark, soil, and building materials.
Having buried his body in the garden, she’d proceeded to send texts to her mother-in-law, Nicholas’ mother, as well as his friends, work colleagues, and boss. She told them all that her partner had left her for another woman, and continued to periodically text them from his phone.
In a chilling act, Fiona even hosted his mother for a Christmas drink in December 2021, while his body was buried just feet away.
How did police catch Fiona Beal?
The chilling fact is that Fiona Beal may well have got away with the murder of her boyfriend Nicholas Billingham. However, an unplanned visit from a local police community support officer “spooked her” and derailed her cool exterior. In fact, the innocent visit subsequently caused a decline in Fiona’s mental health.
The community support officer had been concerned for Billingham’s van. It was parked near a tree during heavy storms in February 2022, nearly four months after the murder.
A month later, in March 2022, Fiona traveled to a holiday lodge in Cumbria. From there, she sent a WhatsApp message to family members, which raised concerns about her welfare. Police found her shortly afterwards, and found that she’d unsuccessfully attempted to take her own life.
During a search of the property, police found multiple journal entries – and they raised some serious red flags about her character and her actions. After carefully reading through her journal, the police eventually discovered that she’d killed her boyfriend five months earlier.
After reading her journals, police searched her house in Northampton, and subsequently found Billingham’s mummified body. During the investigation, police found a bloodstained mattress and blood-stained bedding in the basement of Fiona’s house. A cadaver dog – animals trained to pick up the scent of human remains – then located the body. Police arrested Fiona in March 2022 after the gruesome discovery.
Fiona Beal admitted killing Nicholas Billingham in her journals
In what can only be described as a rather stupid act for a killer, Fiona Beal wrote a journal in the days, weeks and months before and after her heinous act. In the journals, she detailed key aspects of the murder.
Her notes revealed her meticulous planning of the murder. These became central to the conviction as they showed she was fully aware of her actions.
The journals contained a confession to the killing, as well as reference to her having a “split personality” and an “alter ego” she called Tulip 22.
One of her entries read: “Moving a body is much more difficult than it looks on TV.” Another said: “I’m not a total monster. I know what I did.”
Another entry read: “While he was in the bath, I kept the knife in my dressing gown pocket and then I had 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.”
She went on: “My last words to him when he asked why, was that he was not going to do to (another female) what he had done to me.”
Later, during the trial, the court heard one entry which said: “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.”
Did Fiona Beal plead guilty to the murder of Nicholas Billingham?
At first, Fiona Beal used her deteriorating mental health to claim diminished responsibility and loss of control. However, prosecutors showed that she had redecorated the house and moved furniture to obscure the view of where she had buried Mr Billingham. They argued that this showed she had not suffered a loss of control and had been fully aware of her actions.
Before the start of the second trial, the CPS commissioned a further psychiatric report. That resulted in the conclusion that diminished responsibility was not an available defence in this case. The other expert witnesses instructed by the defence also took the same view.
Fiona eventually pleaded guilty to the murder of her partner Nicholas Billingham. After an initial trial in 2023 was aborted, a second trial began at the Old Bailey in London in April 2024. Mid-way through the retrial, Fiona pleaded guilty to murder.
During the trial, Fiona’s deeds were described as a “cold-blooded” murder. Prosecutor Hugh Davies KC and detective sergeant Spencer Bailey accused Fiona of hiding behind a “facade as a kindly schoolteacher”.
Why did Fiona kill her boyfriend?
In court, Fiona Beal’s defence lawyers argued that she’d been in a coercive and controlling relationship: They argued that she’d been left “broken” by years of “coercive, abusive, and controlling behaviour” by Nicholas Billingham. Her team argued for a charge of manslaughter over murder.
She also claimed that Nicholas had been having an affair. Prosecutor Hugh Davies KC had read out a letter Mr Billingham had written to Beal after he had an affair. In the letter, Mr Billingham had accepted his faults, and had described Beal as “the most beautiful woman in the world”. He had promised never to “belittle” her again and declared he loved her “with all my heart”.
Davies went on to say that Fiona Beal had stabbed Nicholas Billingham in the neck, and had disposed of his body like “building waste”.
Andrew Baxter, a deputy chief crown prosecutor at Crown Prosecution Service East Midlands, said: “Fiona Beal’s crime and her ongoing deception shocked family members and the whole community.
“She exploited a narrative that she was the victim of abuse at the hands of her long-term partner. But, rather than leave the relationship, she killed him in a planned, cold-blooded execution when he thought he was safe with his partner.”
However, defender Andrew Wheeler KC said Beal was of previous good character and had been a “fantastic” teacher. He added that she had a long history of depression.
Fiona Beal in court and where she is now
In May 2024, Judge Mark Lucraft sentenced Fiona Beal to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 20 years. The judge imposed a mandatory life sentence and said Beal must serve 20 years in jail before being considered for parole. She is currently in jail, and will be for a long time.
The defendant is said to have shown no emotion as the judge read out her fate, and had her head down as she left court.
The judge told Beal: “Having moved and buried the body in the garden you then lied to his mother, numerous friends, all his family and yours as to what you had done and where he was. There was lie after lie.”
In a victim impact statement, Mr Billingham’s mother, Yvonne Valentine, called Beal “pure evil”. She continued: “Nothing will ever make up for the pain we have suffere. But at least we can sleep safe in the knowledge that Beal will be locked away for years during which she will have more than enough time to reflect on her actions.”
At the time of writing, Fiona is 52 years of age, and spending all of foreseeable nights in prison.
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