A primary school teacher who is charged with the murder of her boyfriend allegedly made a diary confession about the killing in a journal that went into detail about her “dark alter-ego”.
Fiona Beal, 49, pleaded not guilty to the murder of her long-time partner, Nicholas Billingham, 42, in 2021.
It is understood that he was killed in Northampton at their home between October 30 and November 10.
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Prosecutors claimed she stabbed Mr. Billingham in their bedroom, tied him up and wrapped his body up before buying items from B&Q to help bury his body in their garden.
The court also heard that she allegedly repainted the bedroom to cover the blood splatters.
A notebook was recovered at their home, and several entries were read to the court by prosecutor Steven Perian KC.
They gave a "chilling account" of how she had planned and killed someone, the court heard.
Beal wrote down details of her "dark side" and explained how she hid a knife in a bedside drawer, the court heard.
Mr. Perian added: "The police recovered a notebook from the place where she had been renting that detailed a chilling account of how she had planned and killed someone, but it did not contain the name of the person she had killed."
The notebook also contained an eery reference to the 1991 film, Thelma & Louise.
It read: "Everything changed last year. There's a quote from 'Thelma and Louise' that feels appropriate, 'Thelma: "You be sweet to them, especially your wife. My husband wasn't sweet to me.'
"I suppose I ought to explain what happened to get me to this point. My mental health had been deteriorating. Whenever he was cheating he would up the ante on belittling, moaning, and criticising."
"I have to confess. Ok here goes. October 2021. He spat on me and threatened me during sex. I thought about leaving but the things he said and did 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. I could no longer sleep in the bed due to my breathing being too loud or I moved too much or I was snoring or etc. etc."
The court heard the notebook entry, which referred to 17 years of "him" being argumentative, mean, cruel, and belittling, continued: "I knew I couldn't let him get away with it. Halloween sealed it. He was vile.
"That night I planned. Covid rules meant I had a guaranteed 10-day isolation period from positive symptoms.
"I called [Beal's headteacher] on the Monday and said we'd tested positive and had symptoms. He went to work. Tulip22 smoked and planned. I'd planned it mentally so many times before.
"I had a bath. I left the water in. I encouraged the bath with the incentive of sex afterward.
"While he was in the bath I kept the knife in my dressing gown pocket and then hid it in the drawer next to the bed. I brought a chisel, bin bag, and cable ties up too.
"I got him to wear an eye mask. It was harder than I thought it would be. Hiding a body was bad. Moving a body is much more difficult than it looks on TV."
Opening the prosecution's case at the town's crown court on Monday, Perian KC said Beal had written in a notebook that she believed Mr. Billingham was cheating on her, and "had decided to kill him" by October 2021.
Jurors were told the notebook contained a claim that Beal had been spat on and threatened during sex and subjected to cruel and belittling treatment.
Alleging that Beal killed her long-term partner in their bedroom on November 1, Mr. Perian told the court: "Nicholas Billingham whilst still in a relationship with the defendant had cheated on her with other women
"She (Beal) believed he was cheating on her again."
But instead of leaving him, Mr. Perian said, Beal formed a plan on how and when to kill him, where to conceal his body, how to cover up and explain his disappearance to others, and how to explain her own absence from work when she killed him.
The prosecutor added: "The prosecution suggests from the evidence gathered it is very likely, she killed Nicholas Billingham during the evening of the 1st of November 2021 in their bedroom."
Having killed Mr. Billingham, the Crown alleged she tied up and wrapped his body, buried it in the garden, and painted and cleaned the bedroom where the killing had taken place.
She is then alleged to have told others that Mr. Billingham had left her for another woman and used his phone to send messages to friends and work colleagues, pretending that he was still alive.
The court heard Beal was found by police in March last year at a lodge near Kendal in Cumbria, after suffering superficial wounds and writing "what read like a suicide note".
She was then taken to the local hospital and detained under the Mental Health Act.
A pathologist concluded that the cause of Mr. Billingham's death was a single stab wound to the right-hand side of his neck, which cut through the jugular vein.
Records showed Beal, who worked at Northampton's Eastfield Academy as a Year 6 teacher, was absent from work between November 1 and November 12.
Beal denied murder and the trial continues.
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