A Northampton teacher accused of murdering her partner and burying him in their back garden spent weeks messaging their friends and family, including the man's mother, pretending to be him, prosecutors have told a jury today.
Steven Perian KC, prosecuting, said it was "very likely, killed Nicholas Billingham during the evening of 1st November 2021 in their bedroom." She then "moved his lifeless body from the bedroom into the garden" before removing his things to persuade people that he had left her for another woman and using his phone "to send messages to friends, work colleagues and to his mother to pretend that he was still alive.
Police returned to the lodge and inside found a suspected suicide note saying ‘Do not go in the bathroom’. Beal was found laying naked on her back in the bath with music playing on a mobile device in the background. Mr Perian highlighted another excerpt where Beal describes how Billingham's actions "fuelled my dark side – I call her Tulip22, she’s reckless, fearless and efficient. Ruthless. I started plotting as Tulip22 after he’d gone to bed.
Mr Perian told jurors how Cumbria Police officers "read the book and found aspects of it disturbing" and decided to inform Northants Police. An initial search of the couple's property found nothing, but a second more detailed search uncovered a mattress in the basement and a duvet in a bin bag, both of which were stained with blood.