A primary school teacher who fatally stabbed her spouse and buried his body in their Northampton garden has been sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum of 20 years.

The partially mummified remains of 42-year-old Nicholas Billingham were found four and a half months after he was last seen on November 1, 2021. Fiona Beal, 50, confesses to being his murderer.

After her trial at Northampton Crown Court ended abruptly on the sixty-fourth day of the trial, she entered a guilty plea in April at a retrial at the Old Bailey.

The original trial collapsed last June when it emerged a key defence witness was a court custody officer who had conducted welfare checks on Beal in the cells.