Daughter who hid murdered parents in Essex home imprisoned for life with 36 years minimum sentence
Victoria McCullough murdered her parents at their home in Great Baddow in July 2019, a court heard.
Last updated 11th Oct 2024
A daughter who murdered her parents then lived alongside their bodies for four years has been given a life sentence with minimum sentence of 36 years.
Victoria McCullough admitted to murdering her parents on 4 July 2024 at Chelmsford Crown Court.
McCullough poisoned her father John McCullough, aged 70 at the time of his death, with her own prescription medication that she crushed and put into his alcoholic drinks, prosecutor Lisa Wilding KC said.
Her father's body was found in a "homemade mausoleum" in his bedroom, a court has heard.
The following day, on June 18 2019, McCullough "beat her mother with a hammer and stabbed her multiple times in the chest with a kitchen knife bought for the purpose", the barrister said.
McCullough told police on arrest, "I didn't really have anything planned as such. .
"I went in to my mother's room three or four times beforehand. She was listening to the radio and facing the wall", McCullough told police.
"It was pretty much do it or be arrested anyway. I knew I had to get it done."
"I actually didn't even know what I was doing. I wasn't even hitting properly, it was like somebody badly playing the xylophone."
Lois McCullough was 71 at the time of her death, and the 36-year-old defendant continued to live at the home in Pump Hill in Great Baddow, Essex, afterwards.
McCullough "built a makeshift tomb" for her father, who had worked as a university lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University, Ms Wilding told Chelmsford Crown Court.
The structure, in a ground floor room of the family home, which had been Mr McCullough's bedroom and study, was "composed with masonry blocks stacked together."
It formed a "rectangular tomb" and was "covered with multiple blankets, and a number of pictures and paintings over the top", Ms Wilding said.
McCullough bought breeze blocks, cement, and sand in Chelmsford city centre in the afternoon of her parents' death, the court heard.
The following day McCullough pretended to be her mother to obtain a new credit card that she then used to buy clothes and jewellery for herself, the court heard.
"She concealed the body of her mother, wrapped in a sleeping bag, within a wardrobe in her mother's bedroom on the top floor of the property," the barrister said.
Her actions were uncovered after her parents' GPs raised concerns over missed appointments and police forced entry to the home on September 15 2023.
On arrival, she told Essex police ‘I know why you’re here’ and pointed them to where she’d hidden her parents bodies.
She had told persistent lies about their whereabouts, frequently telling doctors and relatives her parents were unwell, on holiday or away on lengthy trips.
The barrister said she maintained the cover up by sending regular texts to her siblings, pretending to be her mother.
One relative wrote in a witness statement:
"Virginia covered up Lois and John's deaths by pretending to be them. That's a disgusting portrayal of our family. She will never be forgiven."
Following McCullough's arrest many financial documents and a multitude of SIMS were recovered during the search of the house on Pump Hill.
Wrappers for SIM cards were found - labelled for example "Dad WhatsApp" and "bank universal credit".
Police noted she'd used 145 mobile phone numbers and ten different handsets between 2022 and 2023.
One handset was found to have 78 SIMS swaps within a year.
McCullough gave a detailed account, to officers in custody after her arrest, of how she had killed her parents.
The defendant, who has shoulder-length dyed blonde hair and wore a purple dress, wept in the secure dock of the court as this account was read to the court by the prosecutor.
A custody officer brought McCullough a box of tissues and she wiped tears from her eyes.
Ms Wilding said the defendant "had been thinking about killing her parents since March 2019 and had been planning for it".
She said that McCullough "has not been employed for many years" and had been "lying about it".
The court heard, McCullough also lied to her parents about multiple medical conditions she did not have.
Richard Butcher, brother of Lois McCullough, said in a victim impact statement that his niece - the defendant - was "very dangerous" and that what had happened had "undermined my faith in humanity".
The prosecutor said the defendant "engaged in online gambling" and spent £21,193 in transactions related to gambling between June 1 2018 and September 14 2023.
Ms Wilding said that McCullough "made arrangements to ensure that she continued to enjoy the benefit of the pensions that continued to be paid in their names" after the deaths of her parents.
The prosecutor said McCullough "benefited from" £59,664.01 of her parents' state pension and £76,334.58 from Mr McCullough's Teacher's Pension.
The total sum McCullough took from her parents before and after their deaths was approximately £150,000.
A psychologist assessment by Professor Blackwood said: "Virginia wanted to get away from her parents and wanted freedom.
"She felt ostracised by her siblings and mentioned suicidal thoughts at this time.
"The intention of both deaths had always been non-violent."
The defence told the court McCullough has "accepted from the earliest opportunity that she needs to be punished for the crimes she’s committed" and "recognises the hurt" she's caused her family.
Judge, Jeremy Johnson KC, told the court, "at the time of offending Virginia had signs of personality disorder, autism disorder and slight signs of depression."
Johnson address McCullough directly saying, "The evidence is clear that it was a financial motivation to kill your parents rather than feelings of being trapped that you describe.
"You made a free and conscious decision to murder your parents, not motivated or caused by your autism spectrum disorder."
Today (11 October, 2024) at Chelmsford Crown Court, Virginia McCullough was given a life sentence with a 36 year minimum sentence.