UK - Nicholas Billingham, 42, body found buried in garden, Northampton, Mar 2022 *arrest*

[Tortoise]

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Start of murder trial today. Primary teacher Fiona Beal accused of murdering partner Nicholas Billingham. His body was found last March in the back garden of the home they shared in Northampton. Will be tweeting when we can.

 

[Tortoise]

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Jury is in. Beal is sat in the dock. Wearing black clothing. Blonde hair in high ponytail. Judge is Adrienne Lucking. Prosecutor is Andrew Wheeler KC. Defence is Steven Perion KC. Opening statement expected to go into today and tomorrow. Will tweet as can.

 

[Tortoise]

Northampton​	4​	T20227058​	Fiona Beal​
Details: Trial (Part Heard) - Resume - 10:31 Trial (Part Heard) - Prosecution Opening - 10:55

https://www.thelawpages.com/court-hearings-lists/Northampton-Crown-Court.php

 

[Tortoise]

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Pros started laying out it’s case. Say Beal, 49, & Billingham, 42 were in a relationship for many years. Bill had cheated on Beal with many women and had a child with one women. Bill was last seen on Nov 1 2021 after attending a business meeting.

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The crown’s case is that by end of October 21 Beal had become ‘unhappy’ thought he was having an affair and had decided to kill him. They claim she worked out a plan on how and when to kill him, how to conceal his body, how to cover up his disappearance and how to explain her …

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Absence from work. (She was a year 6 teacher at Eastfield academy in Northampton)

 

[Tortoise]

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Prosecution say that from the evidence it is likely she killed Billingham in their bedroom on Nov 1 2021. (They lived in Moore street, Northampton). She then moved his body into the garden. She tied& wrapped his body. Bought items from B&Q to bury his body. ..



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Painted & cleaned the bedroom and disposed of his belongings. Told members of family he had left her for another woman. Used his phone to send messages to friends to pretend he was still alive. Pros tells the jury ‘she carried on with her normal life as if nothing had happened.

 

[Tortoise]

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Pros says that 3.5 months later Beal came to the attention of the police in Kendal as she was found in a bath with superficial cuts to her wrists. Say looked like she had written a suicide note. She was taken to the local hospital and detained under the mental health act.

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On 17 March 22 police forced entry to their home in MooreStreet. No one there. Went back a second time, searched address and found a mattress which had a large area of blood on it. Property was declared a crime scene.

 

[Tortoise]

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Pros say police found an area of interest in the back garden. When dug up found partially wrapped and partially clothed human remains. Head end covered on top. Underneath fabric (possibly a duvet cover). Head wrapped in black plastic. Body was partially mummified and …

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Identified though dental records. Pathologist concluded cause of death was a single stab wound through neck cutting the jugular. .

 

[Tortoise]

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Prosecution tells the jury it is going to outline its case working backwards in 8 chapters. 1: how body was found, 2; consideration of bea[l]’s notebooks, 3; their relationship, 4; his work colleagues, 5; other woman he had a relationship with, 6; family members of both …

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7, material covered by police during their investigation, 8 sequence of events.

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Prosecution explained further information about how Police first came to be involved. Phone call had been made to police by Beal’s head teacher Clair Mills after she had called in sick towards the end of Feb last year. On March 11 Mills called Beals mother who said her daughter

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Had told her she was on a school residential. Mills then called the police. “Where was the defendant?” Says Wheeler KC

 

[Tortoise]

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Jury told Beal had booked into a lodge in Cumbria from 6 March to 16 March. After her boss reported her missing police located her and she said she wanted some ‘peace and quiet’. “She said she was feeling fine she needed time to think and be alone”.

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Beal said she did not want her family to be told where she was. Said not feeling suicidal (but had been in the past). On March 15 she sent a group message to her family saying “I am so sorry. I love you all so much.”

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Officer went back to the lodge and gained entry. Found a note on a plate which said ‘don’t go in the bathroom’. Beal was found in the bath with cut wrists. She awoke after her ear was pulled.

 

[Tortoise]

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A blue notebook was found on the kitchen island. It was taken with Beal to the Royal Lancaster Infirmary and give to the mental health team. A nurse handed the book to the police and asked them to read it. Prosecution tells the jury officer found aspects ‘disturbing’ …

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And were concerned about contents where it had been written that she had killed her long term partner and had hidden him. The police notified their colleagues in Northants

 

[Tortoise]

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Note to readers of this thread. This is a live court trial so pleased do not comment or give your opinions.

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A check was done at Beal home by Northants police. The officer who had read the notebook asked n police do a more detailed search. After finding the mattress in the basement along with a blood stained duvet in a bin bag it was declared a murder scene. Police also noticed ..

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Freshly laid bark in the garden. Northants police asked Lancashire police to arrest Beal for murder.

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Prosecution read out a passage from the notebook: “Everything changed last year. There’s a quote from Thelma and Louise that feels appropriate. Thelma: ‘you be sweet to them especially your wife. My husband wasn’t sweet to me. Looked (sic) how it turned out

 

[Tortoise]

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In the note book it was written everyone had a breaking point. Said her mental health had been deteriorating and he was f**king around again. Whenever he was cheating he would up the ante on belittling, moaning and criticising.

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Notebook read out days: I have to confess. Said thought about leaving but things he said and did fuelled her dark side. I call her Tulip22. She’s reckless, fearless and efficient.

 

[Tortoise]

I call her Tulip22. She’s reckless, fearless and efficient.

Anyone able to decipher what this means?

 

[Tortoise]

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The note says she had to sleep downstairs. ‘Got high let tulip out’. I knew I couldn’t get away with it. Halloween sealed it. He was vile. I sat on the kitchen floor and wept … I allowed so much bad to happen. That night I planned. .. . He went to work. Tulip22 smoked & planned.

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‘I’d planned it mentally so many times before.’ Notes for Monday November 1 say Beal had a bath and left the water in. ‘While he was in the bath I kept the knife in my dressing gown and then his it in the drawer next to the bed. I brought a chisel, bin bag and cable ties too.’

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I got him to wear an eye mask. It’s harder than I thought it would be hiding a body. Moving a body is much more difficult than it looks on tv. I started to believe in the cover story. Flashes interrupted. But in the dark times or just at random moments. .

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I would remember. Remember what I’ve done. What I am.’

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Court is on a break. (These tweets are a bit behind where the prosecution has got to.)

 

[Tortoise]

Anyone able to decipher what this means?

oh, I see, it's the name she's given herself

I thought it was the prosecutor calling her that

 

[elliefant]

An alter ego thing possibly

 

[Luwin]

Anyone able to decipher what this means?

A name for her alter ego?

 

[Tortoise]

So it looks like tulip22 makes an appearance in the notebook for the first time after halloween, by way of an explanation for reader by looks of it.

 

[Tortoise]

The court heard the Year 6 teacher killed and disposed of the 42-year-old in November 2021 after phoning in sick with Covid. [...]

The Cumbrian force notified colleagues in Northampton and officers were sent to search Beal's address. A cursory initial search of the property revealed nothing suspicious, but a second, detailed, search uncovered a bloody mattress and duvet in the basement, and 'freshly-laid bark in the garden'.

Northamptonshire Police asked for Beal to be arrested on suspicion of murder. Mr Billingham's iPhone was then found at the holiday lodge during a search.

[...]

The journal continued: 'Ok here goes. October 2021. He spat on me and threatened me during sex.

'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. I would have to go downstairs after sex and even when I was unwell.

'I got used to sleeping downstairs and waited for him to go to bed and then got high and let Tulip22 out. I knew I couldn't let him get away with it.'

[...]

10% extract
Teacher 'stabbed boyfriend to death and buried the body in the garden'

 

[HongKongPhooey]

So far the not guilty plea is feeling a tad optimistic.

JMO