Virginia McCullough is sentenced to life with a minimum term of 36 years for murdering her parents, with judge Mr Justice Johnson telling her: "You think more of money than you do of humanity."
Lois and John McCullough were killed in 2019, but their bodies were not found at their home in Essex until 2023
Their daughter continued to live at the house, where she made a makeshift tomb for her dad's body and hid her mum's in a wardrobe
McCullough, 36, benefitted financially to the tune of nearly £150,000, with detectives saying they uncovered "vast levels of deceit, betrayal and fraud"
Her wider family said they had been left devastated by the deaths of their parents, who were taken "so cruelly"
Virginia McCullough will not serve a whole life order, Mr Justice Johnson has said.
He says the tariff is saved as a "sentence of last resort".
The judge cites McCullough's guilty pleas and admissions to the police as influencing his decision.
Virginia McCullough is no longer staring at the floor and has instead been looking at the judge during his remarks.
Those in the public gallery are also watching intently as the sentencing hearing approaches its climax.
The judge says Virginia McCullough tested drugs on her parents, unknown to them, in the days before she murdered them.
"You drugged your father’s drink two days before the murders in order to use him as a guinea pig," Mr Justice Johnson says.
"You had a primary plan to use the drugs for their deaths, and you had a back-up plan to use weapons if the primary plan failed."
The judge adds: "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. They are entitled to feel safe with their own daughter."
Mr Justice Johnson is now addressing Virginia McCullough as he begins his sentencing remarks.
Referencing the murder of Lois McCullough, he says: "Her last conscious moment was the realisation that you, her daughter, had launched a murderous attack on her."
He said McCullough went on to hide her mother's body in a wardrobe before barricading it with breeze blocks she had purchased.
Downstairs in the family home, she had created a "makeshift mausoleum" to conceal her dead father.
The judge, Mr Justice Johnson, has returned to court and is about to deliver his sentencing remarks.
We will bring you the latest as it comes in.
Mr Justice Johnson has risen and left courtroom to consider the sentence he will pass.
He says he will be back at about 15:05 to pass sentence.
Lewis Adams
Reporting from Chelmsford Crown Court
Christine Agnew KC has just spoken to her client Virginia McCullough in the dock having finished her mitigation.
The barrister returns to the front of court saying McCullough wants the court to know "she knows she must be punished for what she has done".
Continuing her mitigation, Christine Agnew KC says Virginia McCullough is "not using her autism as an excuse for what she did".
However, she adds: "It does, in some way, explain her actions."
McCullough has "accepted her fate" while on remand in prison, Ms Agnew says.
"She knows she is going to prison for, if not the longest time, an extremely long time."
Lewis Adams
Reporting from Chelmsford Crown Court
The court has just been given a brief insight into Virginia McCullough's life behind bars.
She has been held on remand at HMP Peterborough since her arrest in September 2023.
Her barrister, Christine Agnew KC, says: "Her self-esteem is 500% higher than [it was] outside."
McCullough gave no response in the dock as this was explained to the judge.
Lewis Adams
Reporting from Chelmsford Crown Court
Christine Agnew KC says the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns created an "extraordinary state of affairs" when it came to covering up the murders
She adds that her client Virginia McCullough had "paranoia" and was self-harming at some stages while living at her parents' house on Pump Hill in Great Baddow.
"Her autism, both at the time and now, means she has significant mental health issues," says Ms Agnew in mitigation.
Lewis Adams
Reporting from Chelmsford Crown Court
Virginia McCullough is continuing to stare at the floor as Christine Agnew KC continues her mitigation.
Occasionally she looks up, but she has spent most of the hearing looking down.
The 36-year-old has already heard that she faces a mandatory life sentence for the murders.
It is up to the judge Mr Justice Johnson as to whether to impose a whole life order, which would mean she would never get out of jail.
Lewis Adams
Reporting from Chelmsford Crown Court
The family house on Pump Hill in Great Baddow had metal grilles put over doors and windows following the discovery of the bodies
In her mitigation, defence counsel Christine Agnew adds that Virginia McCullough had an "unconventional" relationship with her parents.
"There were, to some extent, some unusual features of the home," she tells Mr Justice Johnson.
"It is somewhat remarkable no-one attended the home for four and a half years."
Lewis Adams
Reporting from Chelmsford Crown Court
The defence barrister Christine Agnew says Virginia McCullough "recognises she has hurt and damaged" her siblings "to such an extent that they are unlikely to recover".
"She made full admissions to the offences from the moment police came to her front door," says Ms Agnew.
Lewis Adams
Reporting from Chelmsford Crown Court
All parties have returned to court seven here at Chelmsford Crown Court as we await the start of this afternoon's proceedings.
It is expected the defence will last for another 20 minutes before Mr Justice Johnson turns to the actual sentence.
Virginia McCullough has returned to the dock here on the top floor of the courthouse in the city centre.
She had a hurried conversation with her barrister at the back of the court before taking a seat.
In case you are just joining us, here are some of the key points from Virginia McCullough's sentencing hearing so far.
We will post further updates when the hearing resumes after lunch.
The court has risen for lunch, and the judge says the hearing will resume at 14:00.
Lewis Adams
Reporting from Chelmsford Crown Court
Defence counsel Christine Agnew is now addressing the prosecution's request for a whole life order to be imposed on Virginia McCullough.
"This is not a case where a whole life order is necessary or justified," she argues.
The defendant is looking at the floor as her barrister makes her submissions, her eyes occasionally flicking up to watch.
Lewis Adams
Reporting from Chelmsford Crown Court
Image source, Essex PoliceVirginia McCullough began "explaining in some detail" about what she had done when police officers came to arrest her, her defence counsel Christine Agnew says.
"[She said] what she had done, how she had done it," Ms Agnew tells the judge.
"She undoubtedly laid bare what had happened some four and a half years earlier."
Lewis Adams
Reporting from Chelmsford Crown Court
Christine Agnew KC is on her feet as she begins mitigation on behalf of the murderer Virginia McCullough.
She begins by saying: "Nothing I say is intended to detract from the loss of dear parents, grandparents and siblings."
Lewis Adams
Reporting from Chelmsford Crown Court
The prosecution has now turned to the sentencing guidelines.
They have told the judge a whole life order is appropriate in Virginia McCullough's case.
If this is granted, the judge will not have to set a minimum term of imprisonment and McCullough will never be released from jail.
"These were clearly pre-meditated killings... there was a plan B if plan A didn't work," prosecuting counsel says.
"This is a case of exceptionally high seriousness."