She said their relationship deteriorated during the first Covid-19 lockdown
A primary school teacher who killed her partner told jurors her only memories of burying his remains are “a dragging sensation” and “seeing what would have been the body wrapped in the dining room”. Fiona Beal denies murdering Nicholas Billingham in November 2021, claiming her “broken” mental state means she is guilty of the lesser offence of manslaughter.
The jury has been told that plastic bags, rubble, mortar, polystyrene, laminate flooring, and sections of fabric and vinyl were also recovered from a “built structure” hiding the body of Mr Billingham. Invited by defence barrister Andrew Wheeler KC to tell the court if she could recall anything about stabbing her partner, Beal stated: “No – I thought that I had hit him over the head and that it happened in the bath.
Beal, who says she does not remember “much at all” about the killing or the following months, alleged she was “forced” into a sex act by Mr Billingham in October 2021, leaving her feeling she was “at risk of physical sexual harm”. Beal, who said the school trip went very well, told the jury: “It was only for my class, who were Year Six. Some of them had challenging behaviour but that day they were well-behaved.
“I didn’t have the energy to carry on. Everything just sort of caught up with me and my mood was very low.”
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