Moment killer teacher Fiona Beal dances in front of pupils months before she stabbed 'cheating' partner to death and buried his mummified body in the garden

This is the moment a killer teacher who stabbed her boyfriend and buried his mummified body in her garden was filmed dancing in front of her pupils just a few months before.

Fiona Beal, 50, planned the killing of 42-year-old builder Nick Billingham in her journal, where she wrote under her alter ego, 'Tulip22', before buying a knife and a chisel.

After murdering him 'in cold blood' at their home in Northampton on November 1, 2021, the teacher told friends they had both tested positive for Covid so she would not be disturbed while she buried him in the garden.

She previously admitted manslaughter by loss of control but denied murder - however she dramatically changed her plea on Friday at the Old Bailey.

Footage has now emerged of the primary school teacher dancing without a care in the world in front of a class at Eastfield Academy in Northampton.

In the video obtained by The Mirror, the killer is seen performing a dance routine and laughing at the school where she taught Year Six.

It was posted by the school in December 2020 - during the pandemic. The X post read: 'Year 6 having a dance to get us going.' 

In another post in March 2021, Beal is pictured reading on the social media page for World Book Day.

Looking at the footage and photo, many would be shocked to find out she was the same person who brutally stabbed her boyfriend to death.

Mr Billingham's body went undiscovered for four months before police found Beal's journal, in which she wrote how her lover asked 'why?' when she knifed him.

They then dug up the garden and uncovered his mummified remains wrapped in sheeting in a makeshift grave filled with compost and ten 22.5kg bags of Cotswold Stone that she bought from B&Q especially for the purpose.

After she admitted to murdering him, Judge Mark Lucraft told her: 'You have this morning pleaded guilty to murder, which as you have no doubt been told, carries a sentence of life imprisonment.'

After murdering her partner, Beal sent messages to friends claiming they were both ill with Covid and had to isolate.

Prosecutor Hugh Davies, KC, told the Old Bailey: 'Central to the plan was knowing that after stabbing him, if she claimed she had Covid, she would have 10 days to bury him and cover up her crime.

'And that's exactly what happened. She was thinking about what time was best to do it, whether he would be snoring, but she knew or visualised it would be by stabbing him ''left to right, down slight right''. And that's what she did - she stabbed him in his jugular vein in his neck.'

Beal murdered Mr Billingham in their bedroom late on November 1.

Mr Davies continued: The clean-up started as early as 01.07am on 2 November. Using her dead partner's account, and then hers on Amazon, she bought multiple cleaning products, including for Venetian blinds, a new mop and bucket, ultra heavy duty bin bags, a new mattress, bedding, clothing, wall art and mirrors.

'This is considered, controlled, conduct that is on the one hand intrinsically practical, and on the other indulgent. On 1 November she manufactured a positive Covid test result-all you had to do was complete the NHS questionnaire online app self-report a positive test.

'There is no evidence she ever did a PCR test. Her actions in the next 10 days are wholly inconsistent with having the exhausting effects of Covid which she was claiming to be experiencing.'

Beal also sent messages to her sisters saying they had split up, with one message saying he left because he had had an affair with another woman.

The prosecution said the narrative that Mr Billingham had run off with another woman was 'completely false'. But jurors heard that Mr Billingham appeared to have cheated on Beal previously.

She returned to work 'fully discharging her considerable responsibilities as a teacher to Year 6 pupils' and receiving a 'sympathetic response' from people who had heard about her break-up.

Her mental health started to deteriorate in late February 2022, the court was told.

The following month, she rented a cabin in Cumbria and sent messages to family members which gave them cause for concern over her wellbeing, prompting them to call police to check on her, the prosecutor said.

In the cabin, police found journals 'written in her hand' that showed 'a wholly different side to her personality'.

Beal had written in her journal that Mr Billingham asked 'why?' after she stabbed him.

Mr Davies said: 'They certainly do contain some unambiguously clear declarations of what she had done. These parts were not just her truth, but the truth. What was this?

'The short answer is that she had planned to, and had, killed him in cold blood. She had purchased a forged handled utility knife in the days before. She had a chisel and cable ties.

'Promising sex after a bath, she stabbed him in the neck when he was wearing a sleep mask and was probably cabled-tied on their bed.'

The court previously heard that this was the second time a trial had started in the case, with a different jury - for a trial that took place in Northampton last year - discharged before the end of the evidence for legal reasons.

Following Beal's guilty plea today, Detective Chief Inspector Adam Pendlebury, from Northamptonshire Police, said: 'We are pleased Fiona Beal has now taken the decision to admit she did indeed murder Nick Billingham and hope that it brings the start of some closure to his family who have faced a torrid time for more than two years, including sitting through the original trial in Northampton in 2023.

'Today's news will have come as a great relief as they await her sentencing next month.'

Beal will remain in custody and be sentenced on May 29 and 30.

Speaking after the guilty plea, Mr Billingham's mother Yvonne said it hurt her to know her son's killer offered her a drink while he was buried just feet away.

She said: 'Nick was my firstborn and he was very loving little boy, cheeky, mischievous, things that boys are like. He had friends, he loved his football.

'How you could hate someone that much to do what she did I can't believe it, and apparently his last word was 'why' when she stabbed him in the neck.'

Recounting an occasion after her son's death, she added: 'I walked into the house and in the living room and the first thing I thought was, "ooh you've turned all your furniture round".

'Fiona offered me a Christmas drink, and I said thank you, so I sat there with this drink, but then it always gets to me because Nick was buried in the garden just a few feet away and I didn't know he was there.

'I try not to think about it too much but I do, it's horrible.'