An ex-lover of Fiona Beal’s murdered builder boyfriend – who had a secret child with the victim – has spoken for the first time about the brutal killing.
Andria Farden had an on-off relationship with Nick Billingham, 42, who was killed by his partner Beal in a horrific attack in their home in Northampton.
Beal, 50, had lured Mr Billingham into their bedroom with the promise of sex before ‘executing’ her partner and was jailed for life with a minimum term of 20 years on Wednesday.
Ms Farden, who has been raising Nick’s child with her new partner, said she was left heartbroken by the horrific stabbing in the neck of her son’s dad.
Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Ms Farden described Mr Billingham as a ‘bit of a lad but not a bad person’, adding: ‘Why would she want to kill him? He didn’t deserve this. It makes me really sad.’
The Ex school administration assistant and barmaid also revealed how her young son is ‘looking more and more like his daddy every single day’
In first pictures published of their baby posted on social media by Ms Farden and shared with friends, supporters and the victim’s mother Yvonne Valentine – she remarks on how he is the ‘spitting image’ of his dad.
Andria Farden (pictured) had an on-off relationship with Mr Billingham and described him as a ‘bit of a lad but not a bad person’
Nick Billingham, 42, was stabbed to death by Beal who buried his body in their garden
Ms Farden has revealed how her young son (pictured) is ‘looking more and more like his daddy every single day’
Fiona Beal (above) was jailed for life with a minimum term of 20 years in a televised sentencing today
She is raising the child with her new boyfriend Daniel Townsend, who she calls a ‘brilliant’ stand-in father.
After Mr Billingham’s trussed-up body was found buried in the garden of the house he shared with Beal, four months after he had gone ‘missing,’ Ms Farden said: ‘Why would she want to kill him? He didn’t deserve this. It makes me really sad.’
Speaking exclusively at the time from her home in Earls Barton, Northamptonshire, the shaken mum said of her former lover: ‘He was a bit of a lad but not a bad person.
‘He was a good looking guy and well liked. He is the sort of person that tried to keep everybody happy.’
Serial adulterer Mr Billingham had eventually confessed to Beal – his partner of 17 years and mother of his daughter – that he had fathered a child with his lover, whom he later split from.
Ms Farden, who is understood to have worked in the same school as Beal, recalled: ‘I knew her but not very well. She knew about the child. She was furious when she found out.’
Speaking with her son, then a toddler, cradled in her arms, she said: ‘I don’t know what drove her to doing this. It is shocking.
‘His mum is devastated. We’re in contact and she can’t believe what has happened.
‘My son doesn’t know yet but my older children do. I will tell him when the time is right.’
Ms faden is raising the child, now aged around five, with her new boyfriend Daniel Townsend and ‘brilliant’ stand-in father
A police mugshot of Fiona Beal, who pleaded guilty in April during a retrial at the Old Bailey
Police officers who searched the home found a bloodstained mattress in the basement
Ms Farden, who also has a daughter and son, now aged about 10 and 13 and not the victim’s children, stated: ‘He never disputed he was the dad. He was fully aware he had fathered another child.’
At time of Mr Billingham’s horrific death in October-November 2021 he had been paying his younger ex lover £100 monthly child maintenance, which suddenly stopped.
Ms Farden admitted previously posting some unkind remarks on social media about the negative role he had been playing in their son’s life, but insisted: ‘That was a long time ago, at the beginning.’
After his gruesome murder was uncovered, the tearful mum said: ‘I’m not saying anything negative about him now. He was my son’s dad and now my son will have to grow up knowing his dad was murdered. It is awful.’
Beal dramatically changed her plea last month of guilty to manslaughter to guilty on murder meaning no trial would go ahead.
Following her confession, Ms Farden posted on her public Facebook page: ‘She has changed her plea to guilty! Finally, it is over. RIP Nick.’
She accompanied her post with a custody picture of the killer and copy of Northamptonshire Police’s report of the shocking case.
Over the years Ms Farden has also shared with her family and supporters cute photos and videos of their son growing up, and images of his dad.
In a post in August last year, with a picture of her adorable son, she wrote: ‘Oh my goodness, how much does he look like his daddy here!’
Police dug up the garden in Northampton and uncovered Nick Billingham’s mummified remains wrapped in sheeting in a makeshift grave filled with compost and Cotswold Stone
Disturbing photos show the makeshift grave where Beal buried her partner
The chilling diary entry where Fiona Beal describes tricking her boyfriend Nick Billingham into wearing a mask by promising sex – before stabbing him and burying the body in the garden
In another she penned: ‘I know he’s the spitting image of him anyway but this photo is just like looking at Nick’ with one person commenting: ‘The absolute double of Nick!’
In another message before Mr Billingham’s known murder, Ms Farden wrote: ‘Looking more and more like his daddy (you!) every single day’ with a heart emoji.
She also references his funeral, with a post on April 28, 2022, saying: ‘Today was such a hard day. Saying goodbye is never an easy thing to do, especially when you know it’s forever!
‘Rest in Rest In Peace Nick 1979-2021’ with a red heart emoji.
Mr Farden also bigs up her new partner Mr Townsend, saying: ‘You may not be his daddy by blood but you are everything a daddy should be, and so much more. You are brilliant.’
Evil Beal admitted killing Mr Billingham at the family home in Northampton, between October 30 and November 10, 2021 and burying his body in their garden.
She had lured him to bed, promising him sex and and had blindfolded him with a sleep mask and cable tied him but in a ‘cold-blooded’ pre-meditated act then stabbed him to death.
She left her partner with no chance as she plunged a knife into the base of his base of his neck with such forced and accuracy that it almost instantly severed his jugular vein.
She later buried his mummified body in their back garden with his remains being found four months later.
Prosecutors described her as ‘cunning, cruel, deceptive and devious.’
The back garden of the property in Northampton where Nick Billingham was buried
Forensic officers in Kingsley, Northampton, in March 2022 after the partly mummified remains of Mr Billingham were discovered at the home, four-and-a-half months after he was last seen
In a self-justifying plea killer Beal had said ‘I’m not a monster’ and claimed her cheating partner called her ‘fat’ and threw tantrums if his dinner wasn’t ready when he got home from work.
Serial adulterer Mr Billingham had met Ms Farden in 2011 while she was working at a pub in Earls Barton, Northants Beal’s first murder trial had heard.
She was named and described as ‘the other woman’ in his life and said: ‘He sort of person that tried to keep everybody happy.’
The prosecutor, opening the case, said the couple had initially had a ‘brief relationship’ but Mr Billinghan had broken it off and stopped visiting the pub, because he did not want to ‘jeopardise his relationship with his daughter by seeing Ms Farden.’
There was no contact between the secret lovers for about five years when in 2017 Mr Billingham ‘accidentally sent Ms Farnden a Facebook message,’ the court heard.
The prosecutor said: ‘This led them to re-connect and Nicholas Billingham coming down to the pub where Andria Farden was working, and they re-started their relationship.
‘He would often stay with her. They had bought Christmas presents for each other and exchanged gifts. He said he was going to leave home and was waiting for the right time because of his daughter.
‘But before Christmas Day he broke off their relationship,’ the court heard only to resume their romance shortly afterwards.
But it ended again in April 2018, just before the victim’s daughter’s birthday, only to re-start again.
The court heard: ‘In October 2018, Ms Farden discovered she was pregnant. At the time the couple were living together but in November 2018 whilst she was away attending a child’s party, he packed and moved out without informing Andria Farden.
‘He came back a few weeks later and told her that he had confessed to the defendant and their daughter about the baby.
‘In January 2019, Nicholas Billingham and Andria Farden went for her 20-week scan. He told her that he was there for her and not for the baby.’
Beal buried her boyfriend in a makeshift grave filled with compost and bags of Cotswold Stone
At that time he was trying to re-build his fractured relationship with Beal and their daughter.
The prosecutor said: ‘After the baby was born Andria Farden contacted Child Maintenance Service regarding child maintenance.
‘Nicholas Billingham contacted her and it was agreed that he would pay £100 a month. He always paid on time until November 21, when the payment was not received into her bank account.
‘She could not contact Nicholas Billingham directly as he had blocked all her numbers and blocked her on all social media sites.
‘She got her current partner to send a message to Nicholas Billingham about the child maintenance which had been read but there was no reply.’
In Beal’s re-trial it was heard that she had thrown her cheating lover out of the family home after he confessed to fathering a lover’s child.
But he bombarded her with letters, promising to change his ways, and begging her to have him back.
Mr Billingham told her: ‘You are the most beautiful woman in the world, let’s get that straight. ‘You are so kind-hearted in every single way and if there were more people like you around, the world would be a better place.’
He wrote: ‘Did I ever make you think that you weren’t the perfect woman for me? I miss waking up with you and falling asleep with you. I miss relaxing with you, watching films with you and cuddling you, holding you tight with my strong arms.’
Eventually Beal took him back but, according to friends, ‘could never forgive him for fathering a child with a young woman while they were still together’ and ‘on top of that having to pay her child maintenance.’
CCTV of Fiona Beal at a B&Q in Northampton in November 2021, where she purchased ten 50 litre bags of compost, ten 22.5kg bags of Cotswold Stone and a grey plastic trough
Despite his love child and previous affairs, the Year 6 teacher at Northampton’s Eastfield Academy agreed to a fresh start and they move to a new home – which was eerily to become the scene of murder and his makeshift grave.
The original trial heard: ‘The recurring problem in their relationship was his infidelity. During their time together, Mr Billingham was said to have cheated on his partner four times.
‘He first walked out on Beal for another woman when their child was three years old. Although he would subsequently return, it was a pattern that would be repeated throughout their relationship.’
Beal had planned the killing of her partner 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, the teacher told friends they had both tested positive for Covid so she would not be disturbed while she buried him in the garden.
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 frenziedly 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 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.’
Footage has now emerged of teacher dancing without a care in the world in front of a class at her school which sacked her when she was first arrested on suspicion of murder.
Speaking after Beal confessed to murder, the victim’s mother Yvonne Valentine 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.’