Virginia McCullough, a British woman from Essex, was sentenced on Friday for murdering both of her parents and keeping them hidden in her house for the past four years. She will suffer 36 years in prison before being considered for parole.
In a long series of deceit and manipulation, she had managed to keep this hidden from her siblings, family, friends, and doctors.
Detective Superintendent Rob Kirby said that Virginia is 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."
When finally caught, Virginia showed callous remorselessness, telling the officers "cheer up, at least you've caught the bad guy," according to disturbing body cam footage.
Parents Murdered For Money In Cold-Blooded Act
Concern arose for Lois and John McCullough, Virginia's parents, when their doctor noticed a persistent period of missed appointments and alerted authorities in last September. The police then began a missing persons case, which led them to a shocking discovery in Virginia's home.
They breached her house, where they found Virginia who immediately confessed to everything. With no remorse, Virginia described the locations of her parents' bodies and how she murdered them. She said that "it's proper that I serve my punishment," and that "prison might give me a bit of peace."
Virginia had given her father a "cocktail of drugs" to poison her parents in June 2019. She poisoned him with prescription drugs crushed into alcoholic drinks. He died from the dosage. Virginia gave her mother a weaker dose, which sedated her.
Fearing the mother would figure out what Virginia had done, she decided to murder her the following morning. She beat her with a hammer and stabbed her numerous times in the chest with a kitchen knife. She hid the hammer under the stairs, where it remained until the police recovered it.
Disgustingly, Virginia described her act against her mother, "when I was hitting her [with the hammer] it was like someone badly playing the xylophone, it was willy-nilly."
She had placed her father's body in a "homemade mausoleum" in his study, made with masonry bricks. The mother had merely been placed in a sleeping bad and tucked into a wardrobe.
Her carelessness and stark admittance is as shocking as the crimes that took place. Virginia further explained that she murdered them for money. She exploited their goodwill when they were alive and used their pension when she murdered them.
Her family is devastated to have been so deceived.
