Fiona Beal, 50, revealed through journal entries discovered by police that she was planning the attack on Nicholas Billingham, 42, “in cold blood” and had purchased a knife, chisel and cable ties.
Beal initially pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter by reason of a loss of control, but denied murdering Billingham, whose partly mummified body was found in March 2022, four months after he was last seen.
The 50-year-old told a number of friends in the days after that she and Mr Billingham had Covid-19 and needed to isolate. She then sent messages from Mr Billingham’s phone saying they had split up because he had an affair.
However, Mr Billingham had been buried in the back garden. The court heard that after Beal promised him sex after a bath, she stabbed him in the neck when he was wearing a sleeping mask, while cable-tied on their bed.
A jury at the Old Bailey heard on Friday that she had changed her plea. Judge Mark Lucraft told Fiona Beal: “You have this morning pleaded guilty to murder, which as you have no doubt been told, carries a sentence of life imprisonment.”
Mr Billingham’s remains were discovered by Northamptonshire Police in March 2022 after Beal had been found in a distressed state at a holiday lodge cabin in Cumbria.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة April 27, 2024 من The Independent.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة April 27, 2024 من The Independent.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
UK expels senior Russian diplomat over spying case
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Pressure mounts on PM to suspend arms sales to Israel
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CHUNNEL VISION
In its 30 years of operations, the tunnel connecting the UK to mainland Europe has been superseded by cheap air travel. However, Simon Calder says there are ways it can improve
