Virginia McCullough: The ‘intelligent manipulator’ who murdered her parents and said ‘I don’t seem 100% evil’

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails

Sign up to our free breaking news emails

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy

“Cheer up, at least you’ve caught the bad guy,” Virginia McCullough said chillingly as she was arrested on suspicion of killing her own parents, adding: “I know I don’t seem 100% evil.”

The 36-year-old was jailed for life on Friday with a minimum term of 36 years after admitting to murdering them.

McCullough hid her parents’ bodies in makeshift tombs and continued to live alongside their corpses in their home for four years before she was finally caught.

She first killed her father John McCullough, 70, by crushing up prescription medication into his alcoholic drinks in June 2019 before beating her 71-year-old mother Lois McCullough with a hammer and fatally stabbing her one day later.

She went on to hide her father’s body under a bed on the ground floor, and put her mother’s body in an upstairs wardrobe before living at the family home in Great Baddow, Essex.

She ran up large debts on credit cards in her parents’ names and after their deaths, she continued to spend their pensions until she was finally caught in 2023.

But who is Virginia McCullough and how could she be capable of a crime that has shocked and horrified even the most experienced of murder detectives?

Detective superintendent Rob Kirby, of Essex Police, described McCullough as “an intelligent manipulator” whose “actions were considered, meticulous and carried out in such a way as to conceal what she had done for as long as possible”.

The officer also described how deeply deceitful McCullough has been - lying “about almost every aspect of her life” to maintain the charade that her parents were still alive.

He added how the force “built a picture of the vast levels of deceit, betrayal and fraud she engaged in” through the course of its investigation.

When officers forced entry to the house in Pump Hill on September 15 2023, McCullough confessed that her parents’ bodies were in the house and that she had killed them.

Shocking bodycam footage of her arrest lays bare her disturbing demeanour, as she calmly told officers: “I did know that this would kind of come eventually. It’s proper that I serve my punishment.”

At the police station, she told officers where a kitchen knife was, which she described as a “murder weapon”, and a hammer which she said “will still have blood on it”.

Whilst she came clean about her horrific crimes upon arrest, it followed several years of “maintaining a charade to deceive everyone close to her and clearly taking advantage of her parents’ goodwill”, Det Supt Kirby said.

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

“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.”

On Friday, the court heard how she cancelled family arrangements and frequently told doctors and relatives her parents were unwell, on holiday or away on lengthy trips.

But concerns for Mr and Mrs McCullough’s welfare were raised in September 2023 by a GP at their registered practice, and Essex County Council’s safeguarding team referred these to police.

The GP had not seen the couple for some time and said Mr McCullough had failed to collect medication and attend scheduled appointments. It was found that McCullough had frequently cancelled appointments, using a range of excuses to explain her father’s absence.

Police said a missing persons investigation was initially launched and McCullough lied to officers, claiming her parents were travelling and would be returning in October.

Statements from three of the defendant’s siblings were read in court on Friday revealed how one felt “utterly sick to my core” and “Virginia always said mum and dad were fine and made up lie after lie about their daily activities”.

Another sibling said: “Their only mantra we lived by was that we, their children, are safe and happy.”

Richard Butcher, Lois McCullough’s brother, described his niece – the defendant – as “very dangerous”.

He said: “I keep thinking why – I feel I have been manipulated over the years to think my sister was alive.”