Virginia McCullough kept a sinister secret for several years before her lies caught up with her
Matt Lee Senior Multimedia Journalist
17:00, 15 Jan 2026
Virginia McCullough lived with a sinister secret for four years before the web of lies she had spun came tumbling down. The Chelmsford resident gave the outward impression of living a normal life, but behind the doors of her family home in Great Baddow, that was far from the truth.
The quiet blonde - known as Ginny by her friends - often went about her daily business like many of her neighbours did. She would pop to the nearby Vineyards shops and occasionally visit the local takeaway outlets.
Sometimes she would spend time with her neighbours (on occasion, unannounced) and close associates. But it was only once she stepped through the door of the end-of-terrace home that she shared with her parents, John and Lois, on Pump Hill that she was able to truly relax. It was here that, completely unbeknownst to her neighbours, she no longer lived with her mum and dad because she had murdered them several years ago.
McCullough, now one of Essex's most infamous killers, admitted to murdering her parents in June 2019. She was sentenced to life imprisonment in October 2024 with a minimum term of 36 years. Just like when she admitted her offending in court and when she coldly confessed to officers who raided her home, she once again showed no emotion when taken to the cells. Her crimes have since been highlighted in a number of TV documentaries.
Virginia went to some lengths to cover her tracks, persistently telling lies to family, friends and neighbours abut their whereabouts. It included the use of her parents' phones to send text messages, pretending to be Lois during a conversation with a family member, and sending pre-printed birthday cards.
She even frequently cancelled GP appointments, using a range of excuses to explain her father's absences. Except, perhaps through naivety, it was these lies that ultimately led to her secret unravelling.
"You are described by one of your sisters as having always been a compulsive liar," Mr Justice Johnson said of McCullough. "That description is clearly justified, but it hardly captures the elaborate, extensive and enduring web of deceit that you spun and maintained over months and years."
That dishonesty was eventually discovered when Ginny's parents' doctor contacted police concerned that they had not been seen and appointments were repeatedly cancelled. Rather than confess the offending at this stage, McCullough continued to lie to officers when initially contacted by police, claiming her parents were travelling.
But by this point, suspicions were raised and so on September 15, police executed a warrant on her home. Taser-wielding officers smashed through the front and back doors and McCullough, caught by surprise, immediately began to unravel the secret she had been keeping wrapped up for so long.
During a conversation with officers, McCullough explained where she had concealed her parents' bodies. Her dad, John, was hidden in a "makeshift mausoleum" constructed from breeze blocks in a downstairs room, whilst her mum, Lois, was stuffed into a taped-up bedroom wardrobe. Chillingly, she had continued to live there up until the point of the police raid almost four years after they were killed.
"I did know that this would come eventually," she told them. "It's proper that I serve my punishment."
Both parents had consumed a cocktail of prescription drugs in their drinks. It proved fatal for John, while McCullough fatally struck Lois with a hammer and inflicted eight stab wounds the following morning.
But the main question remains: why did this chillingly calm woman so brutally kill her parents?
Detectives established by evidence painstakingly uncovered at the property that McCullough had long manipulated and abused her parents’ good will for financial gain. She had run up large debts on credit cards in her parents’ names and, after their deaths, she even continued to spend their money.
This built a picture of a woman who was trying desperately to keep her parents from discovering the depth of the financial black hole she continued to dig, while giving them false assurances about her employment.
Virginia spent money gambling online and shopping. The total amount she took came close to £150,000.
"I am sure that a substantial motive for each of the murders was your intention to avoid your parents discovering that you had been stealing from them and lying to them, and to enable you to continue to take monies that were intended for them," the Judge explained.
They added: "It is suggested in one of the [expert] reports that you might have thought that you had a binary choice between living with your parents and killing them, and that this is likely to have been a consequence of autism. However, the evidence compellingly shows a financial motivation for killing your parents, rather than feelings of being trapped in the way that you describe."
Even Rob Kirby, one of Essex Police's most senior and experienced homicide detectives, was left aghast by the actions of Virginia. Through the investigation, they "built a picture of the vast levels of deceit, betrayal and fraud" that she had become entangled.
"It was on a shocking and monumental scale," he added. "McCullough lied about almost every aspect of her life, maintaining a charade to deceive everyone close to her and clearly taking advantage of her parents’ good will."
"She is an intelligent manipulator who chose to kill her parents callously, without a thought for them or those who continue to suffer as a result of their loss," he continued. "The details of this case shock and horrify even the most experienced of murder detectives, let alone any right-thinking member of the public."
It's perhaps to be taken even more seriously given in March 2024, just seven months before McCullough's sentencing, Mr Kirby had helped put Luke D'Wit behind bars for a double murder on Mersea Island, describing the fentanyl killer then as "one of the most dangerous men I have come across".
Despite all the pain and hurt being felt by some of those in courtroom, Virginia McCullough did not react as she was sentenced. She looked at the judge, nodded, and then was taken away to start the minimum term of 36 years imposed on her.
An earlier version of this story was published in December 2024.