An elderly couple missed their appointments for years and when the doctors found out that something was amiss, they were already dead for five years. Throughout these years, their daughter told them her parents were either unwell or away on some trips. The daughter, UK’s Virginia McCullough, Thursday pleaded guilty to the murders of her parents — John and Lois McCullough — who were both in their 70s when they were killed in 201.
The woman confessed to have killed her parents between June 17 and June 20, 2019. After the murders, she concealed their bodies within the property and continued to live at the same address, The Independent reported.
Doctors, relatives noted their sudden disappearance but the woman weaved a web of perfect lies that sustained till 2023. An investigation was launched in 2023 after her parents’ GPs raised concerns.
The woman confessed that she first killed her father by poisoning with the help of prescription medication and then stabbing her mother.
McCullough appeared by prison video-link before Chelmsford Crown Court Thursday and pleaded guilty — now awaiting her sentence on October 10 and 11.
“You will understand that there is a single sentence that can be passed upon you in these circumstances. Consideration however has to be given to the minimum term,” Judge Christopher Morgan said.
How the murder was unraveled
Essex Police said it received reports of concern for the well-being of two elderly people on September 13, 2024. The force said it began an investigation and that detectives later found human remains at an address in Pump Hill, Chelmsford. An inquest into the death of Lois McCullough, 75, previously heard she died of stab wounds to the chest. Essex area coroner Michelle Brown said in October last year that Lois McCullough’s provisional cause of death was “stab wounds to the chest”. She said “human remains believed to be” 74-year-old John McCullough were found at the same location.
The woman confessed to have killed her parents between June 17 and June 20, 2019. After the murders, she concealed their bodies within the property and continued to live at the same address, The Independent reported.
Doctors, relatives noted their sudden disappearance but the woman weaved a web of perfect lies that sustained till 2023. An investigation was launched in 2023 after her parents’ GPs raised concerns.
The woman confessed that she first killed her father by poisoning with the help of prescription medication and then stabbing her mother.
McCullough appeared by prison video-link before Chelmsford Crown Court Thursday and pleaded guilty — now awaiting her sentence on October 10 and 11.
“You will understand that there is a single sentence that can be passed upon you in these circumstances. Consideration however has to be given to the minimum term,” Judge Christopher Morgan said.
How the murder was unraveled
Essex Police said it received reports of concern for the well-being of two elderly people on September 13, 2024. The force said it began an investigation and that detectives later found human remains at an address in Pump Hill, Chelmsford. An inquest into the death of Lois McCullough, 75, previously heard she died of stab wounds to the chest. Essex area coroner Michelle Brown said in October last year that Lois McCullough’s provisional cause of death was “stab wounds to the chest”. She said “human remains believed to be” 74-year-old John McCullough were found at the same location.
