Megan Newborough: Man in 'volcano' rage as he killed woman, jury told

The court heard Megan Newborough was "a happy soul, beautiful inside and out"

A man accused of murdering his girlfriend has told jurors he went into a rage "like a volcano" as he strangled her to death.

Ross McCullam killed Megan Newborough, 23, in the living room of his home on 6 August 2021.

The 30-year-old has admitted her manslaughter but denies murdering her.

Mr McCullam described the moment he throttled Ms Newborough to a jury at Leicester Crown Court, saying he was unable to stop attacking her.

Giving evidence in his own defence, Mr McCullam said he had invited Ms Newborough to his home in Winsor Close, Coalville, when his parents were out for the night.

Mr McCullam said he had been in the garage of the house before she arrived.

Defendant Ross McCullam told a jury he went into a "blind rage" as he strangled Megan Newborough.

He previously told the court he had been sexually abused in the same garage when he was eight or nine by older children who lived nearby.

Kerim Fuad KC, defending, had previously told the jury Mr McCullam "lost control" in the moment as a result of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) triggered by childhood abuse he had suffered.

Mr McCullam told the court he was "stressed and sweating" when Ms Newborough arrived.

He said: "I was really looking forward to her coming round. I should have said at that point that I needed to be on my own because I felt trapped. I should have said it but I didn't."

Mr McCullam said he and Ms Newborough talked about marriage and moving in together before she attempted to perform a sex act on him.

He said: "That was when I just exploded. It was just rage. I pushed forward with all my strength. I had never ever felt like that before.

"It was like a volcano."

'Million times worse'

Mr McCullam continued: "I had been drifting off into the realm of remembering stuff in the garage.

"It was that feeling of being touched and trapped. I remember just screaming 'no, no'.

"As soon as I pushed forward there was no going back. It wasn't a thought process. I couldn't stop. It was blind rage.

"Megan didn't do anything wrong."

The defendant said he was "delusional" and took a kitchen knife and cut Ms Newborough's neck 14 times adding: "Once I had done it I realised I had made things a million times worse."

The trial has heard Mr McCullam then bundled Ms Newborough's body into her own Citroen C3, drove to a remote spot on Charley Road, near Woodhouse Eaves, where he dumped her body in undergrowth.

'I hate myself'

On the way, the court heard, he threw her mobile phone out of the car window into a hedge but continued to text and call it feigning concern to cover up what he had done.

He told the court: "It was to make it seem everything was fine. I hate myself for it. I have always tried to be a good person but that was a horrible thing to do.

"It was selfish. I figured I had gone too far and I just had to carry on."

The court heard Mr McCullam then abandoned Ms Newborough's blood-stained car in a Loughborough car park before getting a taxi home.

Her family reported her missing on Saturday 7 August after she failed to return to her home in Nuneaton in Warwickshire.

Mr McCullam was later arrested and told officers Ms Newborough was dead and revealed where he had left her body.

The trial continues.