Woman admits to killing parents in UK and living among their bodies

In a harrowing case that has shocked the nation, a British woman, was sentenced to life in prison for the brutal murders of her parents.

A British woman who killed her parents and lived alongside their bodies for four years in makeshift graves at their family home was sentenced to life in prison, with no chance of parole for 36 years, Caliber.Az reports, citing foreign media. 

Virginia McCullough, who misused her parents' finances and constructed an elaborate web of deceit to mislead family and friends, had previously pleaded guilty to the murders at Chelmsford Crown Court in June 2019. 

Judge Jeremy Johnson stated during the sentencing that her actions represented a “gross violation of the trust that should exist between parents and their children.” When Essex Police searched her home in Great Baddow last September, McCullough admitted to killing her parents and revealed their bodies were in the house.

McCullough, 36, admitted to poisoning her father John McCullough, 70, with prescription medication that she crushed and put into his alcoholic drinks and that a day later she beat her 71-year-old mother Lois McCullough with a hammer and fatally stabbed her. 

“I did know that this would kind of come eventually,” she said while handcuffed in body-worn footage captured by police that was released Friday. “It’s proper that I serve my punishment.” 

After McCullough was arrested on suspicion of double murder she told an officer: “Cheer up, at least you’ve caught the bad guy,” adding that “I know I don’t seem 100 per cent evil.” Further footage from a body camera shows McCullough at the police station telling officers where they can find the hammer and kitchen knife she used to kill her mother.

According to the prosecution, McCullough stored her father in a “homemade mausoleum” created from stacked masonry blocks in his ground floor bedroom and study. Her mother’s body was wrapped in a sleeping bag and placed in a wardrobe on the upper floor of the house.   In the years following the murders and leading up to her arrest, McCullough accrued significant debts on credit cards in her parents’ names and continued to misuse their pensions. The court heard that she canceled family gatherings and often told doctors and relatives that her parents were either unwell or away on extended trips.   During the trial, prosecutor Lisa Wilding read statements from three unnamed siblings of McCullough.

One sibling described their parents as “completely blameless victims,” while another noted that “Virginia always claimed that Mum and Dad were fine and concocted lie after lie about their daily activities.” Concerns about her parents' wellbeing were first raised by a doctor in September 2023, prompting Essex County Council’s safeguarding team to alert the police.

Judge Johnson remarked that McCullough had maintained an “elaborate, extensive, and enduring web of deceit” over several months and years, emphasizing that there was a “substantial degree of both premeditation and planning.” He pointed out that she had stockpiled a significant quantity of prescription drugs and had purchased a knife and tools to crush and separate the tablets.  

Essex Police indicated that documents discovered at her home painted a picture of a woman “desperately” trying to hide her dire financial situation from her parents while providing “false reassurances” about her job and future.   “She is an intelligent manipulator who callously chose to kill her parents, showing no regard for them or for those who continue to suffer from their loss,” stated Detective Superintendent Rob Kirby. “The details of this case are shocking and horrifying, even to the most seasoned murder detectives, let alone to any reasonable member of the public.”  

Defense attorney Christine Agnew told the court that McCullough realizes she has caused irreparable damage to her siblings and mentioned that she has expressed, "I’m a happier person in prison than I was outside."

By Naila Huseynova