UK - Lois and John McCullough, 70s, daughter accused of killing parents between 21 Aug 2018 and Sept 2023, Chelmsford, Essex, 15 Sept 2023

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Alyce said:
From the link above....

Ultimately it was his failure to attend for review appointments with his GP that triggered an enquiry and subsequent police involvement


but it seems to have taken 5 years for that trigger to occur ??
Click to expand...
I wonder if covid played a part.

"Police involvement began when a receptionist at a local GP “became concerned” by the regularity of appointments being made and then cancelled. On September 1, 2023, a safeguarding concern was raised with Essex Police."
Daughter hid parents in 'makeshift tomb' for years after murders
 

Heartbreaking statements from victims' children​

Another witness, identified as Child A, said: “We had no chance to say goodbye to our parents and tell them then that I loved them.”

They added: “There was nothing stopping Virginia from getting a job and living her life. Her prolific lies and greed are such senseless reasons for killing John and Lois.”

Another witness, Child B, describes feeling “sick to my core”. They add: “[I am] horrified and broken hearted because of Virginia.

“We have been robbed of time and the loving bonds with our mum and dad for years to come. How dare she [Virginia] rob our family of this right. We are orphans due to this abhorrent and heinous actions for which she is solely responsible.

“Mum and dad were kind and well-meaned people,” Child C adds. “You made up so many lies that nobody could see your cold blooded actions and murder.”

“It breaks my heart that you have painted them [John and Lois] in a different light. You robbed us of our mum and dad.”



www.essexlive.news

Daughter hid parents in 'makeshift tomb' for years after murders

She lived in the house where their dead bodies were hidden
www.essexlive.news www.essexlive.news




Not trying to take away any of the blame from Virginia here but I do wonder why, over the course of those years, from 2018 to 2023, none of these sisters ever went to visit their parents ?
 

Defence argue a whole life order is not necessary​



She added: “On behalf of Virginia McCullough this is not the case where imposition of a whole life order is necessary or justified.

“In particular it is submitted there are three relevant mitigating features.

“Firstly her admission and guilty pleas, second the expert evidence on her mental state and thirdly her remorse.



www.telegraph.co.uk

Virginia McCullough sentencing: Woman murdered parents and lived with their dead bodies

A woman who murdered her parents and then lived alongside their bodies for four years hid her mother’s body in a wardrobe and built a “makeshift tomb” for her father
www.telegraph.co.uk www.telegraph.co.uk
 

Prosecution applies for a whole life order​

12:46 BST​


Lewis Adams
Reporting from Chelmsford Crown Court

The prosecution has now turned to the sentencing guidelines.

They have told the judge a whole life order is appropriate in Virginia McCullough's case.

If this is granted, the judge will not have to set a minimum term of imprisonment and McCullough will never be released from jail.

"These were clearly pre-meditated killings... there was a plan B if plan A didn't work," prosecuting counsel says.

"This is a case of exceptionally high seriousness."

Great Baddow: McCullough to be sentenced for murdering parents



I haven't seen reference to a plan B in any of the reports. Wonder what it was.
 
Tortoise said:
I haven't seen reference to a plan B in any of the reports. Wonder what it was.
Click to expand...
RSBM. I think plan A was to poison Lois as well. When that didn't kill her, she chose Plan B - the hammer. And when that didn't work you could argue that there was a plan C - the knife.

At this stage it looks like she had more strategy plan [letter of the alphabet]s than the Ferrari Formula One team have during a Grand Prix!*

* I do hope someone reading this post follows Formula 1 and gets that last joke! :D

MOO
 

Virginia McCullough jailed for at least 36 yearspublished at 15:32 British Summer Time
15:32 BSTBreaking​


Lewis Adams
Reporting from Chelmsford Crown Court

Virginia McCullough has been jailed for life, to serve a minimum of 36 years before she can be considered for release on parole.

www.bbc.co.uk

Great Baddow: McCullough to be sentenced for murdering parents

The bodies of Lois and John McCullough were found at home four years after they went missing.
www.bbc.co.uk
 
www.dailymail.co.uk

Chilling moment Virginia McCullough confesses to killing her parents

Virginia McCullough, 36, was arrested by police last year four years after murdering her parents John, 71, and Lois, 70, at their home in Pump Hill, Chelmsford and covering up her crime.
www.dailymail.co.uk www.dailymail.co.uk


This is the moment a remorseless woman who killed her parents and hid their bodies in their own home for four years calmly tells police who turned up to arrest her: 'Cheer up: at least you've caught the bad guy.'

Virginia McCullough, 36, was arrested by police last year four years after murdering her parents John, 71, and Lois, 70, at their home in Pump Hill, Chelmsford and covering up her crime as she 'frittered away' £150,000 of cash in their name.

Intense body-worn camera footage released by Essex Police shows the moment she was finally caught after her father's GP raised the alarm over missed appointments - at which point she confessed on the spot.


The video, released today after she was sentenced to life in prison, shows the cold-hearted killer telling officers how she killed and hid her parents in flippant detail.

She appears to stifle a smile as she tells a stony-faced officer to 'cheer up' because he caught a killer.

'I did know that this would come, eventually,' she then adds. 'It's proper that I serve my punishment, so, yeah.'
 
Alyce said:
Arrest video at link


Cheer up, at least you've caught the bad guy.....


news.sky.com

Woman jailed for murdering her parents - after living at family home in Essex with their hidden bodies for years

Virginia McCullough, 36, poisoned her father John, 70, with prescription medication, before stabbing her mother Lois, 71, at their home in Chelmsford.
news.sky.com news.sky.com
Click to expand...
The police officers on the scene must have appeared very solemn, because:

3:45PM

McCullough case ‘horrified most experienced detectives’, police say​

Virginia McCullough’s murders horrified “even the most experienced of murder detectives”, Essex Police has said.

Det Supt Rob Kirby said: “Throughout the course of our investigation, we have built a picture of the vast levels of deceit, betrayal and fraud she engaged in. It was on a shocking and monumental scale.

“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.

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

Virginia McCullough sentencing: Woman who murdered parents and lived with their bodies jailed for life
 

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