Fiona Beal stabbed her partner Nicholas Billingham to death in 2021 before burying his body in the garden and telling people he had abandoned her to live with another woman
Matt Jackson Trendswatch Content Editor
14:24, 23 Jan 2026
Nicholas had been missing for four months(Image: PA Wire)
A woman who savagely killed her partner and interred his “partially mummified” remains in the garden welcomed his mother round for drinks following the horrific act. In 2021 Nicholas Billingham was fatally stabbed by his girlfriend Fiona Beal.
Fiona, who worked as a primary school teacher in Northamptonshire, slaughtered the 42-year-old tradesman after uncovering his extramarital affair. She proceeded to dump his corpse like “building waste” beneath improvised concrete layers and protective sheeting.
Beal informed both their workplaces that they needed to self-isolate following positive Covid tests. She subsequently told acquaintances that Nicholas had deserted her to shack up with another woman in Essex.
Seven days before Christmas, Nicholas’ mother Yvonne Valentine chose to call on Beal to check how she was managing after her son’s apparent abandonment. She revealed to the Telegraph: “Nick had disappeared and it was Christmas [so] I wanted to bring over a present. Everything seemed completely normal.”
Yvonne spent an hour chatting with Beal, remarking on the fresh decorating she’d completed throughout their property. Upon departing, she chose to message her son for an update, reports the Mirror.
Police found Nicholas buried in a back garden in Northampton(Image: PA Wire)
His mobile instantly responded: “All good. We’re in Manchester. Just watched United beat Burnley at Old Trafford.”
The reality, however, was entirely different. Yvonne’s son had been deceased for weeks and the fresh paint concealed bloodstains on the wall from his vicious killing.
The horrific nature of her twisted crime only began to surface in March 2022 when she dispatched a series of disturbing text messages from a cabin she had rented in the Lake District. Concerned colleagues contacted police who rushed Beal to hospital.
Officers subsequently searched her Northampton residence, uncovering a blood-drenched mattress in the cellar. A thorough examination of the property revealed Nicholas’ remains buried beneath a crude grave in the rear garden.
(Image: PA)
The complete scope of the atrocity became apparent after police unearthed a collection of diaries penned by Beal. The ITV documentary Killer In the House: The Murder of Nicholas Billingham revealed that Beal referenced her alternative identity Tulip22 throughout the journals.
She characterised this warped persona as “reckless, fearless and efficient”. Detailing Nicholas’ killing, she documented: “I have to confess Hallowe’en sealed it and I started planning.”
She continued: “I encouraged a bath with the incentive of sex afterwards, I kept the knife in my dressing gown pocket, I brought a chisel and bin bags.”
She proceeded to acknowledge that “hiding his body was bad” and that it “is much more difficult than it looks on TV”. Beal admitted she eventually began believing her own fabricated stories surrounding Nicholas’ demise.
Following her detention, Beal admitted to murder at the Old Bailey. At sentencing, Judge Mark Lucraft disclosed she had continued using Nicholas’ mobile for three months following his death, messaging his contacts and viewing pornographic content.
Beal wrote a journal about the murder(Image: Northamptonshire Police/PA Wire )
The court was also told that Beal and Nicholas had shared an on-off relationship spanning 18 years, during which he had fathered a child with another woman. Sentencing Beal to life imprisonment, the judge characterised her meeting with Yvonne as “callous”.
The judge continued: “The events then and the conversation can only be described as a truly callous act by you dressed up as a casual chat and drink before Christmas. There was lie after lie as to what you claimed was Nick’s moving away from you, why and his life with another woman.
“On 30th December 2021, you sent a message purporting to be Nick to his mother, again that can only be described as a callous act: leading Nick’s mother on further, yet all the time knowing what you had done.”
Judge Lucraft determined that Beal displayed “no remorse” for her crimes.
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