Fiona Beal Trial: ‘Fearful’ Northampton primary school teacher heard voice telling her to ‘stand up for herself’ before Nicholas Billingham’s death

Former Eastfield Academy teacher Fiona Beal told a mental health team that she heard a voice telling her to “stand up for herself” before Nicholas Billingham’s death, Northampton Crown Court hears.

Day two of Beal’s trial (Tuesday, March 14) focused on the police officers involved in her detainment under the mental health act, the search of her Northampton home and her arrest on suspicion of Nicholas Billingham’s murder.

PC Benjamin Lawson is part of the South Lakes Proactive Team in Cumbria. On March 12, 2022 he received a high-risk missing person report for Beal.

He contacted Beal’s mother to get her bank details so that he could check local hotels and holiday rental companies for any bookings under her name. The High Borrans Lodges near Windermere confirmed that Beal had booked a 10 night stay with them between March 6, 2022 and March 16, 2022.

PC Lawson, giving evidence, said he travelled to the lodge and met Beal, who told him she booked the lodge as she wanted some “peace and quiet.”

In his witness statement, PC Lawson said: “She appeared to be relaxed and chatted freely although she appeared down.”

Beal talked to PC Lawson about the pressures of being a teacher and told him she intended to travel home over the weekend but did not want her family to be informed of her exact whereabouts.

When asked if she had suicidal thoughts, Beal told PC Lawson: “I have in the past but not now.”

When PC Lawson asked what she would do if she did, she replied: “I would contact the Samaritans as I have no faith in the mental health services.”

PC Josh Parkin was one of two officers who found Beal in the same lodge just three days later after she made an attempt on her own life.

On March 15, 2022 he drove to the lodge accompanied by another police officer and let themselves in using keys provided by the owner after banging loudly on the door and getting no response.

PC Parkin, giving evidence via video-link in court, recalled seeing a debit card with a note behind it on the kitchen island. The note read: “This is my PIN number. Do not go into the bathroom.”

The two police officers went into the bathroom, which PC Parkin described as “hot and humid.”

He told the court: “What I would strike as sinister was the acoustic music being played on a mobile phone.”

Beal was found lying in the bath naked and face-up. PC Parkin initially believed she was dead.

The former primary school teacher, however, roused when PC Parkin pulled “quite violently” on her ear to get a pain response.

Body-worn footage shown to the court showed the two police officers consoling Beal as they sat her up and she began to cry. That was when PC Parkin noticed a knife on the side of the bath and superficial lacerations on Beal’s wrists. An ambulance was called. She was detained under the mental health act and taken to the Lancaster Royal Infirmary (LRI)

In a small room off A&E - Beal laid on the floor under a blanket not interacting with officers at all as she awaited a mental health assessment.

PC Lawson described Beal as a “shadow” of the person he met just three days before.

PC Parkin said Beal was “fearful and incredibly emotional.”

He added: “She was very closed and would not explain or engage with us about her situation with her mental health.”

The court heard that an assessment was carried out by mental health practitioner Peter Brooks and two doctors.

PC Bromley, who was a short distance away in the room, recalled hearing Beal tell doctors that, in November 2021, there was a voice in her head that told her to “stand up for herself.”

From Beal’s lodge, PC Parkin recovered an A5 blue leather notebook. He noted that it was compiled of the same paper her suicide note was written on. Taking a cursory glance through the book, he saw marks of tear drops on the pages.

He continued: “It had been written whilst she has been crying and rambles about her life and her ex partner cheating on her with someone in the same street.”

The court heard that the notebook detailed killing someone and disposing of their body - although it did not name the victim

PC Parkin told the court: “It was a documentation of what was clearly her mental health in decline.”

PC Lawson said: “I believed the comments to be delusional fantasies and she appeared to be having a mental health episode and I communicated this to the doctor.”

Photographs were taken of every page of the notebook and sent to Northamptonshire Police.

After two searches were carried out at Beal’s home, a bloody mattress and duvet were discovered in the basement and the property was declared a murder scene.

Beal was arrested on suspicion of the murder of Mr Billingham on March 16, 2022.

The trial continues.