Primary school teacher appears in court charged with murder

A primary school teacher has appeared in front of a crown court judge charged with murder after a man’s body was found buried in her back garden.

Fiona Beal, 48, is accused of killing Nicholas Billingham between October 30 and November 10 last year.

At Northampton Crown Court on Tuesday, the defendant spoke only to confirm her name at a short hearing.

Mr Billingham’s body was found behind a house in Moore Street, in the Kingsley area of Northampton, after a police search.

Beal was arrested at a hotel in Cumbria shortly after midnight on Wednesday – the same day Northamptonshire Police began conducting an extensive search of her home.

Forensic officers and specialist search teams, including a cadaver dog, were deployed to the address before the discovery was made on Saturday.

A post-mortem examination was due to be conducted in Leicester to formally identify the victim – but the force previously described the remains as someone they believed to be a 42-year-old missing man.

Northampton’s Eastfield Academy, where Beal worked before her arrest, said they were “shocked and saddened” to hear of Mr Billingham’s death – describing the incident as an “appalling tragedy that will shake our school community”.

Beal, of Moore Street, was remanded into custody to appear at the same court on April 19.