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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  • #181
TootsieFootsie said:
I find that most true crime documentaries don't have anything that we here on WS don't already know.
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It depends on the case. I know that one of the best watches I've had in the last year was The Lie on Netflix, because it was really stripped down and had the police interviews and surveillance footage anchoring the whole thing. I can recommend it. I went into it with no knowledge of the case, and really appreciated the slow dismantling and unpacking. Cases outside the US, there isn't the same degree of evidence released publicly, so for cases in places like Australia where I am and the UK where this case happened, sometimes a documentary is the best way to get information about a case, especially if the thread here isn't active or doesn't exist at all.

MOO
 
  • #182
sunspun said:
This is her prison cell? Did they let her paint it herself? And order pink bedding?
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It's all like that, this prison was discussed and pictures shown of it in the DM when it was possible Letby would be sent there.
 
  • #183
The article doesn't actually say that it's her prison cell. Had to have another look.

And it does seem that they can choose colours etc.
Not sure if they do the painting etc themselves or not.
 
  • #184
  • #185
  • #186
Mr Justice Johnson, sentencing Virginia, said: "Your parents were entitled to feel safe in their own beds and in their own home. They were entitled to feel safe from their daughter. Your conduct amounted to a gross violation of the trust that should exist between parents and their children."
www.essexlive.news

'I explored abandoned home of woman who murdered parents but did nothing wrong'

The urban explorer who entered the home has spoken about the visit for the first time
www.essexlive.news www.essexlive.news
 
  • #187
  • #188
Skigh said:
www.dailymail.co.uk

My sister murdered our parents - and I forgive her

Virginia McCullough, from Essex, was jailed in October 2024 for the murders of her parents. Now, a new series of the Mail's Trial+, starting today, will examine the case.
www.dailymail.co.uk www.dailymail.co.uk
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Well even allowing for it being in The Mail and a lot of the information coming from the murderer herself that's all incredibly grim. I think we all realised the family dynamic wasn't great. The daughter who has spoken had cut ties with them and I wouldn't be surprised if the other siblings had done something similar. Explains a lot about the lack of contact in recent years.

I don't know what you say about a case like this. It's a tragic situation all round with several people needing help and apparently not getting it although of course we don't know what, if any support was offered. No surprise it all came to a head eventually.
 
  • #189
Although the killer claims her parents were terrible to her, they were extremely kind to allow her to continue to live in their home, long after they should have kicked her out to make her own living.

"I knew as a child that I should not have been a part of that family,' she writes." [in article linked above).

I see that as narcissistic entitlement, she believed she was a special, precious little angel, who deserved not to have to work for a living.

The whole 'mean family', IMO, is justification for her being a parasite. She always had a choice to just leave and make her own life. That's what everyone else does, and have done for millennia.

IMO, her parents probably discovered that she'd stolen from them and were going to force her to face consequences - that's usually what triggers murderous offspring.

JMO
 
  • #190
I think the whole family are/were narcissists. The fact that four of the five kids went no contact with their parents is extremely telling to me. That doesn't happen to nice people. Jmo, moo
 
  • #191
The daily mail article also states one of the sisters did not attend either of the funerals or any of the court dates. That's very telling too. I'm not condoning what she did, but I do think she had (likely still has) some sort of mental health problem/personality disorder stemming from an unconventional, emotionally abusive childhood. IMO.
 
  • #192
HollyHunter9 said:
The daily mail article also states one of the sisters did not attend either of the funerals or any of the court dates. That's very telling too. I'm not condoning what she did, but I do think she had (likely still has) some sort of mental health problem/personality disorder stemming from an unconventional, emotionally abusive childhood. IMO.
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I get the feeling the sister who spoke make a conscious decision to completely cut them out both in life and death. We don't know about the other siblings but it's likely they came to the same decisions. As for Virginia I suspect she should have got out as well but possibly was co-dependent or as you say had mental health issues that just getting out just didn't occur to her or she was incapable of doing so. Obviously we still have little idea exactly what went on in their childhoods.
 
  • #193
The article states the killer used the victim's phone to continually keep in touch with family members, and manufacture stories about the victims being elsewhere, so I don't agree their children had all cut them off. Obviously, they weren't close, perhaps the later family dynamics were sour, ie, the father developed his drinking problems after retirement - that will ruin gatherings.

IMO, psychopaths, narcissists, etc, always blame their victims and I just don't believe them. If anything, a hard childhood can make people more compassionate, not less. It's always a complex interaction between personality you are born with, and other family members (including siblings).

JMO
 
  • #194
davidt said:
I get the feeling the sister who spoke make a conscious decision to completely cut them out both in life and death. We don't know about the other siblings but it's likely they came to the same decisions. As for Virginia I suspect she should have got out as well but possibly was co-dependent or as you say had mental health issues that just getting out just didn't occur to her or she was incapable of doing so. Obviously we still have little idea exactly what went on in their childhoods.
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Yes I agree and also the fact she was able to message the other siblings pretending to be the parents and the siblings didn't probe further or try to actually visit the home in any way (like christmas, you might not pre-arrange a visit to quickly stop by and drop off presents for example) I think shows there was a very distant / strained family dynamic even before the murders.
 
  • #195
HollyHunter9 said:
Yes I agree and also the fact she was able to message the other siblings pretending to be the parents and the siblings didn't probe further or try to actually visit the home in any way (like Christmas, you might not pre-arrange a visit to quickly stop by and drop off presents for example) I think shows there was a very distant / strained family dynamic even before the murders.
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And not once in four years insisting on speaking to either parent suggests there was little ongoing relationship. They may not have cut all ties and observed some formalities, odd text or card etc but it doesn't look like there was any real relationship left. Can't imagine all of them being fobbed off for four years not speaking to your parents unless you weren't really bothered.
 
  • #196
Maybe the children had very valid reasons for not keeping in touch with their parents.

We just don't know.
We haven't walked in their shoes.
 
  • #197
TootsieFootsie said:
Maybe the children had very valid reasons for not keeping in touch with their parents.

We just don't know.
We haven't walked in their shoes.
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Let’s hope some of the facts are revealed it really is an amazing case.
 
  • #198
davidt said:
And not once in four years insisting on speaking to either parent suggests there was little ongoing relationship. They may not have cut all ties and observed some formalities, odd text or card etc but it doesn't look like there was any real relationship left. Can't imagine all of them being fobbed off for four years not speaking to your parents unless you weren't really bothered.
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From a documentary about this case: Virginia’s siblings did want to speak to their parents, but Virginia impersonated their mother on the phone, put off many proposed visits and gave them to believe that the parents did not want to see their other children. Virginia was managing this duplicity with something like 45 different SIM cards, also keeping other relatives at bay and dealing with various authorities.
 
  • #199
This is the trailer for the documentary I mentioned in previous post.

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