Teacher ‘redecorated bedroom to cover bloodstains after murdering boyfriend’

A primary school teacher redecorated her bedroom after murdering her cheating boyfriend in an attempt to cover up bloodstains, a court has heard.

Fiona Beal, 49, is alleged to have lured Nicholas Billingham, 42, into bed with the promise of sex before killing him and burying him in their back garden.

Jurors at Northampton Crown Court were told that year six teacher Beal concealed Billingham’s body beneath a pile of bark and soil after wrapping him in bin bags, carpet, a duvet, cable ties and a hosepipe in November 2021.

His mummified remains were discovered at the property in Northampton four months later after Beal attempted to take her own life in March last year.

Jurors were previously told how she launched the attack after blindfolding her partner and stabbing him with a knife hidden in her dressing gown.

On the third day of her trial today, jurors heard evidence from crime scene investigators who examined the couple's bedroom.

John Letchford, from Derbyshire Police, told the court how he uncovered evidence the room had been cleaned and repainted.

Giving evidence, he said: “There was some blood staining at this address, on a divan bed.

“In the cellar of the address we found a mattress with the blood staining in the corner. One corner appeared to be quite saturated. It was quite heavy.

"There appeared to be an inconsistency of the presence of blood in one location and an absence elsewhere.

“The hypothesis that I formed is that there had been some cleaning at this address.

"The bedroom appeared recently decorated. The walls appeared clean, potentially freshly painted, they were whitewashed.”

Letchford said that there were areas of the property with “fluorescent reactions” that showed blood had been present and “diluted and potentially painted over”.

Beal is alleged to have plotted the murder and penned a subsequent confession in her journal after she found out Billingham had been cheating on her again.

Officers found a diary as she recovered in hospital which detailed how she had killed someone under her dark alter-ego called Tulip after reaching ”breaking point”.

After police had found the notebooks at a lodge in the Lake District they alerted detectives at Northamptonshire Police, who searched the couples home.

The court heard Nicholas' partially wrapped and partially-clothed remains were discovered buried in the garden under several layers of bark, soil and stone.

He was still wearing an eye mask that read 'This is my morning after face'.

Cable ties were found wrapped around his legs and wrist and a hosepipe was around his head, while the soil below him had turned yellow.

Beal admits unlawfully killing Billingham but denies murder due to her state of mind at the time.

The trial continues.