Daughter who murdered her parents sentenced to life in prison

A woman who murdered her parents then lived alongside their bodies for four years as she stole almost £150,000 of money in their names has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 36 years.

Virginia McCullough, 36, was emotionless as she was sent down for poisoning her father John, 70, with sleeping pills before attacking her 71-year-old mother Lois with a hammer and a knife at their house in Pump Hill, Chelmsford in June 2019.

Relatives who had been told for years they were away on lengthy trips or unwell pleaded with the judge to lock her away for good. Her mother's brother told the court she would have 'a lot of time to plan something else' while in prison.

Police said McCullough embarked on a 'meticulous' campaign of 'deceit, betrayal and fraud' after helping herself to her parents' finances - which culminated in her decision to kill them and bury the crime so she could continue doing so.

The artist - described in court by a psychiatrist as exhibiting psychopathic tendencies - admitted to police who turned up to arrest her that she had murdered them before spending more than four years covering it up.

She had stuffed her father's body in a 'makeshift tomb' disguised as a bed on the ground floor and secreted her mother's remains in a wardrobe upstairs.

Wearing a tight, long-sleeved purple top and heavy eye makeup, blonde McCullough looked noticeably thinner as she appeared in the dock at Chelmsford Crown Court this morning. She spoke only to confirm her name. 

Sentencing her, Mr Justice Johnson told McCullough she had engaged in 'substantial planning and premeditation' that saw her accumulate large amounts of prescription drugs, a knife and implements to crush the tablets into powder.

Her sustained 'economic abuse' amounted to domestic abuse, he said, adding that she had 'robbed' her parents of 'dignity in death' by concealing their murders. 

Detective: 'She lied about almost every aspect of her life'

Following the sentencing, Essex Police's Detective Superintendent Rob Kirby said:

'Virginia McCullough murdered her parents in cold blood.

'Her actions were considered, meticulous and carried out in such a way as to conceal what she had done for as long as possible.

'These were the actions of someone who had taken time to plan and carry out the murder of her parents in the interest of self-preservation and personal gain, before living within meters of the bodies of her two victims for a number of years.

'Throughout the course of our investigation, we have built a picture of the vast levels of deceit, betrayal and fraud she engaged in. It was on a shocking and monumental scale.

'McCullough lied about almost every aspect of her life, maintaining a charade to deceive everyone close to her and clearly taking advantage of her parents' good will.

'She is an intelligent manipulator who chose to kill her parents callously, without a thought for them or those who continue to suffer as a result of their loss.

'The details of this case shock and horrify even the most experienced of murder detectives, let alone any right-thinking member of the public.

'It therefore follows that the wider family of John and Lois, understandably, could never have guessed or anticipated that McCullough would be capable of undertaking these murders before committing herself to this level of deceit.

'They have been left utterly devastated by the circumstances of this case and they continue to feel the loss of John and Lois each and every day.

'This process, from the finding of John and Lois' remains, to the unravelling of McCullough's web of lies, has taken a huge toll on the wider family network.

'With this sentence and with all that we have uncovered throughout our investigation, we hope they can now start to find a way forward with their lives.

'The family have continued to struggle with the intense media interest in this case and I would repeat, in the strongest possible terms, their wish for their privacy to be respected as they continue to grieve their loss.'

While he recognised that she had symptoms of a personality disorder, her mental health did not 'substantially' reduce her culpability, adding: 'There was no impairment of your ability to understand the nature of your conduct, to form a rational judgement and exercise self-control.'

Mr Justice Johnson told her: 'You say you murdered them because you felt trapped. The reality is you were trapped only by your own dishonest behaviour.

'You are described by one of your sisters as a compulsive liar, but that hardly captures the elaborate and enduring web of deceit you spun over numerous years.

'These murders were done in the expectation you would gain financially from your parents' deaths. They were murders done for gain. You think more of money than you do of humanity.

'Your conduct amounted to a gross violation of the trust between parents and their children.

'The fact you concealed your parents' bodies for so long and maintained the deceit that they were still alive robbed them of dignity in death.'

McCullough nodded as the sentence was passed and she was taken to the cells but showed no other emotion.

The court heard she gave her father a fatal dose of sleeping tablets, leaving him to die alone. McCullough found him dead the next morning - before deciding her mother could not be allowed to find out. 

As Mrs McCullough lay in bed listening to the radio, unaware her husband was dead, her daughter struck her with a hammer and stabbed her eight times to her chest and neck, apologising to her as she lay bleeding out. 

McCullough cut her own finger during the savage attack - and tried to pass it off as an accident from chopping vegetables after she went to the GP with the injury, which would not stop bleeding. 

She frittered away £149,697 from credit cards, bank accounts, pensions and benefits attached to her parents - including over £21,000 on gambling. 

Some of this happened before their deaths - which she would pass off as frauds, banking failures or the work of hackers, even creating fraudulent documents from financial institutions to cover her tracks. 

Her trickery deceived everyone - including Mrs McCullough's brother Richard Butcher, who told the court: 'I have been manipulated over the years to think my sister was alive.' 

Prosecutor Lisa Wilding KC had urged the court to impose a whole-life order for the crime, pointing out the level of planning, deception and abuse of trust, as well as McCullough's motive of financial gain.

But Christine Agnew KC, for McCullough, said the 'highly unusual' killings did not merit the rare punishment of prison without any chance of parole.

'She made full admissions to her crimes to officers who attended her address,' she said.

'Upon opening the door to the police officers she said 'I know why you are here' and pointed them towards the bodies of her mother and father.

'She explained what she had done and how she had done it. She laid bare what had taken place four and a half years earlier.'

Ms Wilding said: 'Between June 17 and 18 2019, Virginia McCullough murdered both of her parents. 

'The defendant then built a makeshift tomb for her father in a ground floor room of the family home, which had been his bedroom and study.

'She concealed the body of her mother, wrapped in a sleeping bag, in a wardrobe in her mother's bedroom on the top floor of the property. They remained there for four years until these events were discovered.

'Her actions were, on her own admission, the culmination of months of thought and planning which began in March 2019.'

The court heard Mr McCullough - a university lecturer on the autistic spectrum - had a medical history of hypertension, type-2 diabetes, high cholesterol and glaucoma, all of which required regular medication and appointments with his doctor.

'Ultimately, it was his failure to attend review appointments with his GP that triggered an enquiry and subsequent police involvement,' said Ms Wilding.

Mrs McCullough had a history of anxiety and was prescribed lorazepam. She was also agoraphobic and had obsessive compulsive disorder.

'Devastated and heartbroken': Family's statement

In a joint statement after the sentencing of Virginia McCullough for the murder of her parents John and Lois, the couple's extended family said:

'We would like to say a huge thank you to Essex Police, and in particular the Major Investigation Team for their tireless work in trying to achieve the best possible justice for our beloved parents.

'We would also like to thank other specialist services for their invaluable contribution to this investigation, and to everyone who has supported our family over the last year.

'Our Dad was caring and hardworking and he had a passion for education and writing. He worked tirelessly in his career in university education, which spanned many years.

'Dad enjoyed lots of hobbies, with particular favourites being golf and snooker. As we think of Dad, we remember the numerous jokes he used to tell us and the laughs he gave us.

'Our Mum was kind, caring and thoughtful. Mum delighted in her grandchildren.

'She had friends from around the world through her penfriend hobby, many of whom she had written to for several decades. Mum had a passion for history, and maintained a keen interest in the royal family.

'Mum and Dad loved their trips to the seaside together, where they enjoyed many walks and visited lots of different attractions.

'Their love for the seaside was so great, they were hoping to move to the coast in their retirement years. Mum and Dad always enjoyed the time they spent with us, family was their pride and joy.

'Our family has been left devastated and heartbroken at the deaths of our parents who were taken from us so cruelly.

'As we try to move forward with our lives, we will remember the happy times we enjoyed with them.

'Our Mum and Dad are forever in our hearts, and are loved and missed beyond any measure.

'We request privacy as we continue to grieve the loss of our dear parents.'

Both were described in court as being 'functional rather than affectionate' parents who nevertheless 'did love and care for their children' despite being 'old fashioned in their ways, not prone to displaying affection'. They slept in separate beds.

Virginia McCullough, the court was told, was described as a 'compulsive liar' and 'socially awkward' by those who knew her.

She claimed to suffer from complex medical issues including thunderclap headaches - which did not surface during her time in custody - and had not been employed since she was a barmaid in 2017. 

Nevertheless, she pretended to her parents she was a salaried web designer, and pretended to go into the office. She also lied about having benign cysts requiring treatment, and falsely made out to her GP that she was pregnant and had miscarried.

She resented her mother, the court heard, branding her a 'happiness hoover' who would smack her while bathing her as a child.

Prosecutors read out an account, given by McCullough to police, of how she carried out the murder of her own mother.

'It was pretty much either do it or you're gonna be arrested anyway for the murder of your father, you're gonna go to prison,' she had told detectives.

The gruesome attack began with a hammer - before she fetched a Lakeland kitchen knife because 'the hammer was not going to work and I didn't actually want her to suffer', she told detectives.

'I was hitting like someone badly playing the xylophone or something,' she had added.

After the killing, McCullough went into Chelmsford town centre where she bought plastic gloves from Lakeland, paying with her father's credit card.

The same day, she bought sleeping bags and wrapped her parents' bodies in them. 

She then embarked on a never-ending chronicle of lies, telling friends and relatives her parents were unwell, on holiday or away on lengthy trips. 

On June 18, she used her mother's phone to text a relative, writing that she and Mr McCullough were 'at the seaside in Walton this week'.

On at least one occasion, she tried to pass herself off as her mother in a phone call to a relative.

McCullough also sent birthday cards from Moonpig and gift vouchers as presents, purporting to be from her mother.

The court heard McCullough made 238 calls made to Essex police from July 2020 until her arrest for a variety of trivial matters, which the prosecutor said demonstrate 'apparent paranoia on her part'.

In October 2022, she called police pretending to be her mother, saying that she and her father had been staying at different family addresses, and made 185 calls to the GP surgery, including calls in which she pretended to be her mother.

Prosecutor Ms Wilding said: 'Undoubtedly the Covid restrictions, and remote appointments, were a stroke of luck for the defendant in pursuing her deception that her parents were still alive.'

But the repeat pattern of booking and cancelling appointments on behalf of her parents caught the eye of a GP receptionist, who raised a safeguarding issue with the police on September 1.

McCullough tried to ward them off by telling an officer they were travelling and would be back in October, adding that they did not carry mobile phones, but she was arrested on September 15 2023 after GPs raised the alarm.

When police officers arrested her at home, she asked to speak to them in a back room.

Ms Wilding said: 'She pointed to a concrete structure which looked like a bed. She said, 'I know why you're here, my father is in there, I murdered him'.'

When police asked where her mother was, McCullough replied: 'She's upstairs in a double wardrobe.'

Prosecutor labels the killer 'callous and vicious' after sentence

Nicola Rice, a Specialist Prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service said after McCullough's sentencing:

'McCullough callously and viciously killed both of her parents before concealing their bodies in makeshift tombs within their home address.

'She spent the next four years manipulating and lying to family members, medical staff, financial institutions, and the police, spending her parent's money and accruing large debts in their name.

'Working with the police we built a strong prosecution case to show the level of McCullough's deceit both before and after the killings, which helped deliver a guilty plea, thereby sparing the victims' loved ones the pain of a trial.

'This was a truly disturbing case, which has left behind it a trail of devastation, and I can only hope that the sentence passed today will help those who loved and cared for Lois and John begin to heal.'

McCullough had hidden her father's body in a homemade 'mausoleum' disguised as a bed.

The structure was made from masonry blocks and wooden panels secured together with white filler. The structure was covered with multiple blankets, with pictures and paintings on top.

Inside, police found at least 11 layers of plastic and other materials covering the body, which was wrapped in a sleeping bag.

McCullough had wrapped her mother's body in plastic packing and placed it into a sleeping bag which was stuffed into a double wardrobe. The doors were taped shut and concrete blocks were placed in front.

The bodies of both Mr and Mrs McCullough were severely decomposed and had to be identified from dental records. 

Ms Wilding said: 'She expressed a concern that she had not opened the wardrobe since so was unsure of the state inside.'

A psychiatrist who examined McCullough said her 'callousness, lack of empathy and deceptive behaviours' indicates she is a psychopath.

And Lois's brother Mr Butcher urged the judge never to release his niece.

He said: 'Virginia is very dangerous. She has spread many lies to cover her misdeeds. Her ability to kill her parents undermines my faith in humanity.

'Virginia used our hope to see Lois and John to manipulate us. I have been manipulated over the years to think my sister is alive.

'I couldn't comprehend what has happened and still can't. I believed I was in communication with Lois, John and Virginia before hearing the awful news.

'I couldn't sleep and I couldn't understand why Virginia would do such a thing, and still can't.

'I can never get this time back with my sister and her husband. My biggest fear is that Virginia is dangerous, and she will now have a lot of time to plan something else.'

Other relatives spoke of being left 'devastated and bereft' and being forced to endure 'a living nightmare' for the rest of their lives.

One of her siblings said Virginia's 'immeasurable amount of lies is sickening' and blasted her 'lies, laziness and greed'.

In a letter to the killer, one sister expressed their 'profound disbelief and hate' for McCullough, writing: 'The evilness and vindictive nature of your actions have rocked our family to its core.' 

It later emerged Essex Police had attended at the address less than a month beforehand on 18 August, after McCullough alleged she was assaulted in her back garden.

A female officer had interviewed McCullough in a first-floor living room - unaware of the bodies upstairs.

A review has been carried out by Essex Police over the prior contact with Ms McCullough and concluded the female officer did not do anything wrong. It is understood the investigation was filed away after enquiries were carried out.

Locals living around Pump Hill in September last year had described McCullough as 'quite chatty' and a 'little bit odd'.

A worker at a nearby shop, who asked not to be named, said McCullough had told him her parents had moved to be by the seaside.

He said he had not seen them since before the Covid-19 pandemic, but that previously 'I would see them two or three times per week'.

The worker said he did not really chat with her parents but they 'seemed nice, normal people'.

'We were told they had moved to be beside the seaside,' he said, adding that it was McCullough who told him. 'We're all shocked, we didn't think she was capable of this.'