Fiona Beal Trial: Teacher accused of murder admits to dishonestly claiming benefits

A trial has heard that a former Northampton primary school teacher fraudulently claimed benefits before she is accused of killing her boyfriend.

Fiona Beal, aged 49, of Moore Street, stands accused of murdering 42-year-old Nicholas Billingham in November 2021 and burying his body in their garden.

The former Eastfield Academy teacher was charged with Mr Billingham’s murder in March 2022 after she tried to take her life in a Cumbrian holiday lodge and police uncovered two journals that detailed carrying out a plan to kill someone.

While Beal admits to Mr Billingham’s unlawful killing, she denies murder due to loss of control and her state of mind at the time. Her defence barrister Andrew Wheeler KC claims that her relationship with Mr Billingham was “coercive” and left Beal “broken.”

Steven Perian KC, prosecuting, began his cross examination of Beal on Wednesday, May 10. That morning, jurors heard that Beal could not recall penning two journals confessing to killing Mr Billingham.

In the afternoon, Mr Perian questioned Beal further about when she introduced her partner to her family after meeting him in 2004.

Mr Perian asked the defendant if her family thought she could have done better. “No”, she replied. Mr Perian compared builder Mr Billingham to one of Beal’s sister’s partners who was a solicitor then repeated the question.

“No, it’s not like that,” Beal said, “It was not snobbery, it was the way he was treating me.”

Mr Billingham’s step father previously gave evidence to the court stating that Mr Billingham would clean the Earls Barton home he shared with Beal from top to bottom every month or six weeks. This evidence was mentioned again today.

“That is not correct,” Fiona said.

Mr Perian asked Beal if she was claiming that Mr Billingham’s stepfather was lying.

“I am saying that he was mistaken,” she replied, sounding mildly irritated.

The court heard that Mr Billingham was “particular” about cleanliness in the home and Beal said it was “possible” that he could have been suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), although there was no formal diagnosis.

One of Beal’s older sisters, Jennifer Beal, told jurors that they would both refer to Mr Billingham as ‘Neat Freak Nick’ when she gave evidence as a witness back in March.

However, when Mr Perian questioned the defendant about this today, Beal denied all knowledge of the nickname and claimed she did not think she used it at all or laugh about it with her sister.

“We discussed that he had been a neat freak but we didn’t have a name,” she told jurors.

The court heard that, when the pair lived in Compton Way in Earls Barton, Beal did not like Mr Billingham working off the books.

Beal explained to the court that this was because she was claiming benefits but, as Mr Billingham was not registered to the property, she did not disclose his income on benefit application forms and she would, therefore, receive more money than she should.

The defendant claimed that Mr Billingham did not want anything registered in his name because debt collection companies were pursuing him and anything in his name would be seized as assets.

Mr Perian told the court this meant Beal had been dishonestly claiming benefits. Beal admitted that the information she put on the forms was inaccurate.

When Mr Perian began to question Beal about how many friends she had when she met Mr Billingham, she told the court she had “quite a lot.”

When the pair moved to Earls Barton, Beal had friends from primary school, friends from work and friends that she had recently made in the large village. However, she claimed that Mr Billingham would be “inappropriate” with them, prompting her to only meet them when he was at work or in the evening.

When Mr Perian asked Beal to elaborate on what she meant by inappropriate, she said: “He would talk about their bodies. He mentioned one friend’s breasts because she was pregnant. With another friend, he talked about how she lost weight and gained weight. He would ask about money and what their partners would earn.”

More to follow as the trial continues.