MY DARK SIDE

Monster knifed and buried her partner in yard after love letter

- DAN WARBURTON

A TEACHER who stabbed her partner to death and buried him in their garden documented the murder in a journal blaming an alter ego named Tulip 22.

Fiona Beal plunged a blade into Nicholas Billingham's neck after he wrote her a letter declaring he loved her.

She will be jailed for life today at the conclusion of a two-day sentencing hearing at the Old Bailey.

Police found Beal's journal revealing her "dark side" after a suicide attempt four months after the murder.

The court heard the pair met in a club in their hometown of Northampton in 2004 but she had started using cannabis nightly after he went to bed.

Prosecutor Hugh Davies KC said: "This time of day is when she says her dark alter ego Tulip 22 would emerge."

Evidence photos taken in the cellar of the couple's home showed the blood-stained mattress on which Beal cable-tied builder Nicholas, 42.