Overview

• Fiona Beal, a former primary school teacher, admitted to the murder of her partner Nicholas Billingham, whom she buried in their garden.
• Beal initially claimed self-defense but changed her plea to guilty, acknowledging she planned and executed the murder.
• Investigations revealed Beal used Billingham's phone post-murder to send messages pretending he was alive, further covering her tracks.
• Detailed journal entries by Beal helped convict her, as they contained explicit details of the planning and execution of the murder.
• Beal's sentencing is scheduled for late May, with a murder charge in the UK carrying a mandatory life sentence.