A primary school teacher stabbed her husband to death and buried his body in their yard after he pledged his love “until the day I die,” according to court records.
The partially mummified remains of 42-year-old Nicholas Billingham were discovered in Northampton in March 2022, more than four months after he was last seen alive.
Fiona Beal, 50, pleaded guilty to murder in April and appeared at the Old Bailey to begin her two-day sentencing before Judge Mark Lucraft KC.
The hearing will end on Thursday.
Prosecutor Hugh Davies KC read aloud a letter Mr Billingham sent to Beal as part of couples therapy after he had an affair during their 17-year relationship.
In the letter, Mr. Billingham admitted his flaws and praised Beal as “kind-hearted,” “generous,” and “the most beautiful woman in the world.”
He wrote: “I pledge never to degrade you or make you feel bad again.
“My body, heart, and love have been yours since the day we met and will be till the day I die. I adore you with all of my heart.”
Mr Billingham’s mother, Yvonne, attended Wednesday’s hearing, during which Beal appeared sad and looked down.
On the day of his death, Mr Billingham had worked on a house improvement before returning to the Northampton home he shared with Beal.
Mr Davies claimed that she killed him in a “carefully planned domestic execution” that evening.
Mr Davies claimed that Beal stabbed him in the neck and disposed of his body as “building waste” in their home’s side return.
She hid her tracks by fabricating a narrative that they had Covid and needed to isolate.
Similar texts were made from Mr Billingham’s phone on November 2, in which Beal pretended to be him.
On November 8, Beal texted texts to her sisters informing them that she and Mr Billingham had split up, with one message stating that he had departed due to an affair with another lady.
Upon her return to work, she received sympathy from people who had learnt of the apparent breakup.
Beal’s mental health began to deteriorate in late February 2022, the court heard.
The following month, she rented a cabin in Cumbria and sent texts to family members, which raised concerns about her well-being and prompted them to contact the police.
In the cabin, authorities discovered Beal’s notebooks, which contained a confession to the killing.
They also mentioned that she had a split personality and an alter ego named Tulip 22.
She wrote, “I’d been smoking all day. I had a bath and left the water in. He’d been pushing for sex. I suggested taking a bath with the promise of sex afterwards.
“While he was in the bath, I kept the knife in my dressing gown pocket and then stored it in the drawer next to the bed.
“I took a chisel, a garbage bag, and cable ties as well. “I convinced him to wear an eye mask.
She said; “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.”
The journals prompted a police investigation, which quickly determined that Mr Billingham had not been seen or spoken to by phone since the afternoon of November 1, 2021.
Beal was arrested in March 2022 when police discovered his body.
Mr Davies claimed that Beal “planned to execute” Mr Billingham and then “delivered a false narrative” in order to “conceal her crime”.
All of this occurred while she “continued to deliver high-quality teaching to Year 6 students as if nothing had happened,” according to Mr Davies.
The hearing resumes.