A woman has been jailed for life after murdering her parents “in cold blood” and then hiding their bodies in the family home while she lived with them for four years and spent their money.
“Intelligent manipulator” Virginia McCullough killed 70-year-old John McCullough and 71-year-old Lois McCullough in 2019 and then placed them in “makeshift tombs.”
On Friday she was sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court life sentence with a minimum of 36 years behind bars.
Police said the “enormous level of fraud, betrayal and deceit in which she engaged” was on a “shocking and monumental scale”.
When officers raided the house in Great Baddow, Essex, she confessed that her parents' bodies were there and then killed them, adding that she “didn't seem 100% evil”.
McCullough, handcuffed, said in a police-worn video: “I knew it would happen eventually.
“It is appropriate that I serve my sentence.”
She testified that she put something in her father's drink and put his body under the bed on the ground floor, and put her mother's body in a closet upstairs.
After being arrested on suspicion of double murder, McCullough told an officer, “Cheer up, at least you caught the bad guy.”
She continued, “I know I don't look 100 percent bad.”
Murders
In June 2019, 36-year-old McCullough poisoned her father with prescription drugs that she crushed and added to his alcoholic beverages.
The next day, she beat Lois McCullough with a hammer and stabbed her to death.
Judge Johnson said he was satisfied the offenses involved “a considerable degree of both premeditation and planning”.
He said McCullough “accumulated a large amount of prescription drugs” over a three-month period and in May 2019 “purchased a knife and pill crushing and separating tools.”
Lois and John McCullough. Photo: PA
Hiding bodies
After the murders, the court heard, McCullough hid their bodies in makeshift tombs in the family home.
Prosecutor Lisa Wilding KC said McCullough built a structure for his father's body in a ground floor room that was his bedroom and study.
“It consisted of blocks of masonry stacked together,” creating a “rectangular tomb,” “covered with many blankets and on top of it hung numerous paintings and paintings,” Wilding said.
McCullough hid her mother's body by wrapping it in a sleeping bag and storing it in a closet in a bedroom on the top floor of the property, the attorney added.
Spending your parents' money
McCullough ran up large debts on her parents' credit cards and continued to spend their pensions after their deaths.
Ms Wilding said McCullough “has not been employed for a number of years”.
Police said documents found in the home “built a picture of a woman who was desperately trying to prevent her parents from discovering the depths of the financial black hole she continued to dig, while giving them false assurances about her employment and future prospects.”
The prosecutor said the defendant was “gambling online” and spent £21,193 on gambling-related transactions between June 1, 2018 and September 14, 2023.
Mrs Wilding said McCullough “made arrangements to ensure she could continue to benefit from the pensions which continued to be paid in their name” after her parents' deaths.
According to the prosecutor, McCullough “benefited from” £59,664.01 of the state pension and £76,334.58 of Mr McCullough's teaching pension between June 18, 2019 and September 15, 2023.
Ms Wilding said the money “appeared to be wasted and the investigation did not reveal any expenditure on expensive, luxurious or extravagant items”.
Virginia McCullough at her family home after police raided her home. Photo: PA
Telling lies
The court heard the killer persistently lied about their whereabouts, often telling doctors and relatives that her parents were unwell, on holiday or on long journeys.
The judge found that McCullough “embraced and maintained” a “complicated, extensive and persistent web of fraud” for months and years.
Concerns raised
In September 2023, a GP raised concerns about the couple's welfare and Essex County Council's safeguarding team referred them to the police.
The family doctor had not seen the couple for some time and found that McCullough had failed to collect his medications and failed to attend scheduled appointments.
McCullough was found to frequently cancel appointments, using various excuses to explain her father's absence.
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Police investigation
Police initially launched a missing person's investigation, and McCullough lied to officers, claiming her parents were traveling and would return in October.
It later turned into a murder investigation, and when officers raided the home on September 15, 2023, McCullough confessed that her parents' bodies were there and that she had killed them.
In the courtroom, McCullough began to cry as prosecutors read a statement she gave to police describing the moments before she killed her mother.
She told police: “(Her mother) looked so innocent with her back to the wall.
“She was listening to the radio, she wasn't doing anything.”
McCullough also told officers she had to “gain courage” to kill her mother because she “knew she had to do it.”
At a trial at Chelmsford Crown Court she admitted murdering her parents between June 17, 2019 and June 20, 2019.
Police reaction after the verdict
Chief Inspector Rob Kirby, of Essex Police, said: “Virginia McCullough murdered her parents in cold blood.
“Her actions were thoughtful, meticulous and carried out in such a way as to conceal what she had done for as long as possible.”
He added: “She is an intelligent manipulator who chose to callously kill her parents, with no thought for them or those who continue to suffer from their loss.”
