Woman jailed for killing parents and hiding bodies

A "manipulative" woman who murdered her parents and lived alongside the bodies for four years in their family home has been jailed for life.

The remains of Lois and John McCullough, aged 71 and 70, were found in sleeping bags at their house in Great Baddow, Essex, in September 2023.

Virginia McCullough, 36, admitted fatally poisoning her father - and placing him in a "homemade mausoleum" - and stabbing her mother to death in June 2019.

The defendant, who told police "cheer up, at least you've caught the bad guy", will have to serve a minimum term of 36 years before being considered for release.

The bodies of Lois and John McCullough were hidden in different parts of their house, concealed in sleeping bags

She ran up large debts on credit cards in her parents' names and after their deaths she continued to spend their pensions.

Essex Police said documents at the couple's home "built a picture of a woman who was trying desperately to keep her parents from discovering the depth of the financial black hole she continued to dig, while giving them false assurances about her employment and future prospects".

McCullough, who previously admitted two counts of murder, was sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court but she showed no emotion as she was sent down.

Det Supt Rob Kirby, head of major crime at Essex Police, said the case had "shocked and horrified" even the force's most experienced murder detectives.

He said McCullough had created a web of lies "on a shocking and monumental scale" and described her as "an intelligent and adept manipulator".

A missing persons' investigation was launched in September 2023 after Mr and Mrs McCullough's GP raised concerns about not hearing from them.

Police became suspicious of the couple's daughter due to her constant excuses for her parents whereabouts and later executed a warrant at the family home.

• As it happened: BBC reporting live from Chelmsford Crown Court sentencing

Bodyworn footage showed McCullough admit the murders to arresting officers and told them: "Cheer up, at least you've caught the bad guy".

She confessed to police how she created a "cocktail of drugs" to poison her parents on 17 June 2019 - days after using her father as a "guinea pig" to test the concoction.

McCullough poisoned her father with prescription medication that she crushed and put into his alcoholic drinks, prosecutor Lisa Wilding KC said.

The effects were fatal for Mr McCullough, but Mrs McCullough was given a weaker dose and was merely sedated.

Virginia McCullough lived alongside her parents' bodies for four years

McCullough then beat her mother with a hammer and stabbed her multiple times in the chest with a kitchen knife as she listened to the radio in bed the following morning.

She had decided to murder her mother out of fear she might find out what happened to Mr McCullough.

The court heard how Mr McCullough's body had been stashed away in a "homemade mausoleum" of masonry blocks in his study.

Mrs McCullough's body was found wrapped in a sleeping bag in an upstairs wardrobe.

John McCullough's body was concealed in a makeshift tomb constructed in his office downstairs

McCullough told police: "When I was hitting her it was like someone badly playing the xylophone, it was willy-nilly."

Following the murders, the defendant went into Chelmsford city centre and purchased plastic gloves and sleeping bags on her father's bank card.

Having concealed the bodies, McCullough would go on to persistently lie about her parents' whereabouts, cancel family arrangements and tell doctors and friends her parents they were unwell or on holiday, Ms Wilding said.

"Covid restrictions were a stroke of luck for this defendant in pursuing the deception that her parents were still alive," the prosecutor added.

Virginia McCullough will serve a minimum term of 36 years

'Very dangerous'

The court heard McCullough benefited from £149,697 as a result of murdering her parents - combined from their pensions and spending on their credit cards, as well as selling assets.

"The money appears to have been frittered away and not spent on expensive or lavish items," Ms Wilding said, including £21,000 on online gambling between 2019 and 2023.

Richard Butcher, brother of Lois McCullough, said in a victim impact statement that his niece was "very dangerous" and that what had happened had "undermined my faith in humanity".

Lois and John McCullough were duped by their daughter, who sold them dreams about her future prospects

Mr Justice Jeremy Johnson, sentencing, said to McCullough: "You think more of money than you do of humanity.

"Your parents were entitled to feel safe in their own beds and their own home, and they were entitled to feel safe with their daughter.

"You, nevertheless, made a full, conscious and deliberate decision to murder each of your parents."