Chilling moment killer teacher dances in front of pupils just months before murdering boyfriend & burying him in garden
THIS is the chilling moment a killer teacher dances in front of pupils only months before murdering her boyfriend and burying him in the garden.
Fiona Beal, 50, tied Nicholas Billingham, 42, to a b then murdered him at their Northampton home.
The 50-year-old killer pleaded guilty on Friday to the callous murder, a far cry from what footage uncovered by The Sun shows.
Beal was a teacher at Eastfield Academy in Northampton where she taught year six and is understood to have been a popular classroom figure.
One clip posted to social media in December 2020 several months before the killing by the school shows Beal doing a fun dance at the front of a class “to get us going”.
Beal can be seen leading the students in the jig as she runs, throws her arms around, smiles, and laughs.
A screen at the front of the class shows the words “delicious nut is not a nut” as Beal dances in front of them.
It’s not the only post made by the school showing a different side to Beal.
A light-hearted image posted by the school for World Book Day in March 2021 shows Beal reading a book in an “unusual place” – a nook in a kitchen at the school.
She reads a book called Cogheart – a book about a 13-year-old heroine whose father disappears in Victorian England.
Beal will have plenty more time to read once in prison after she is sentenced on May 29.
Beal tries to get away with murder
After killing Billingham in 2021, Beal sought to cover her tracks and try and get away with the slaying.
She then pretended to be her boyfriend in messages sent from his phone in a move that was “as heartless as it was self-serving”.
The Year 6 teacher claimed he had run off with another woman and received a “sympathetic” response over the apparent break up.
But as Nicholas’ body rotted in the back garden, the Old Bailey was told Beal’s mental health started to deteriorate.
In March 2022 – four months after the murder – police were called to a holiday cabin she had rented in Cumbria amid concerns for her welfare.
Officers discovered journals where Beal outlined her plans under her alter ego “Tulip 22”, which showed a “wholly different side to her personality”.
Beal wrote in one entry: “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.”
In another, she said: “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 court was told Beal also claimed she was “controlled and manipulated” by Nicholas as she explained “why she killed him as she did”.
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.”
Jurors heard police discovered Nicholas had not been seen or spoken to since November 1, 2021.
At the time, Beal had claimed she was isolating for Covid to buy herself at least ten days without anyone visiting, it was said.
She used the break to buy “multiple items” to help her dispose of Nicholas’ body.
The court heard that after killing the builder, Beal wrapped his body up and dragged him down the stairs despite his 14st frame.
She then buried him in the garden in a “de facto coffin” made of breeze blocks, timber and sheets.
Beal also added a plant pot for “decorative effect”, jurors heard.
Mr Davies said: “This was a major job, requiring her to plan what was needed, order it, collect it, burn other incriminating material in an incinerator in the garden and carry on throughout as if nothing remarkable was occurring.
“The body was partly decomposed, indeed mummified and on its back. The head was wrapped in black plastic, a knotted hose pipe, cable and plastic ties were in the same area.”
Beal was remanded into custody ahead of sentencing on May 29.
I had no idea my son's body was buried in the garden, says mum
In an exclusive interview with the BBC, Billingham’s mum revealed she shared a drink with Fiona while he was buried only metres away.
Yvonne Valentine had thought her son had moved out when she popped over to the home of his long-time partner around Christmas time in 2021.
“Fiona offered me a Christmas drink. I said, ‘oh thank you’. So we sat there with this drink,” she said.
“But then it always gets to me because I think Nick was buried in the garden just a few feet away and I didn’t know he was there. It just seemed normal, like I’d been to visit them before.”
“How you could hate somebody that much to do what she did? I thought she loved him.”
Valentine had thought he had run off on Beal after Beal had used Billingham’s phone to send a fraudulent text saying so.
It wasn’t until March 2022 when Valentine took a call from Northamptonshire Police that said he was a missing person.