How 'eccentric' daughter hid a dark secret of murdering her parents

Those who came into contact with Virginia McCullough quickly discovered she was an deeply 'eccentric' character who faked a pregnancy and had paranoid tendencies – but they never suspected the horrors that lurked within her parents' house.

She spent four years living with the bodies of pensioners John and Lois, during which she fobbed off enquiries about their whereabouts with a feeble cover story, while trying to 'buy friends' by showering people with unwanted gifts.

But the truth came tumbling out when police executed a search warrant at her home in September last year after GPs raised concerns about the couple missing appointments.

Moments after police entered the property, McCullough launched into an unsolicited confession – caught on officers' bodycams – in which she described how she had poisoned her father with prescription medication in the summer of 2019 and stabbed her mother shortly afterwards.

Prior to the truth emerging about Mr and Mrs McCullough's grisly demise, the family were largely shadowy figures to locals.

The elderly couple were quiet and largely reclusive, although the peace of the neighbourhood in Great Baddow, near Chelmsford in Essex, was occasionally punctuated by the sound of Mrs McCullough screaming at someone. Who the vitriol was aimed at was never clear.

Recalling McCullough's odd behaviour, neighbour Phil Sargeant, a retired systems engineer, said: 'Last year, I saw her wearing a maternity dress.

'She was making out she was pregnant and showing people what she said was a scan picture of her baby but it could have been an image downloaded from the internet. I didn't believe her.'

Read More

Artist who murdered her parents and hid their bodies at her home for years told neighbours they 'moved to the seaside' - as locals say 'she was a little bit odd' and would 'suddenly appear for chats at 10pm'

Paul Hastings, owner of the Vines Fruiterers in The Vineyards shopping centre close to the family's three-bedroom house, was also suspicious, saying: 'She would come in with a false pregnancy bump in the months leading up to her arrest.

'She showed us a scan picture in a clear wallet. I really didn't believe her.'

Around the same time, McCullough claimed she had been attacked by three intruders in her back garden but the injuries were strangely 'geometric and [she had] straight slash marks on her face'.

One neighbour said: 'It supposedly happened in the early hours but you would not have confronted people in those circumstances.

'The police went round to her house to interview her about it.'

It is understood Essex Police investigated the alleged assault and has since filed the case away, having pursued every possible line of enquiry.

Mr Sargeant, 68, was one of the recipients of unwanted gifts, despite him repeatedly telling McCullough he didn't want anything.

'She would leave food on my doorstep,' he said. 'Sometimes it would be enough Chinese takeaway for three days and I would have to get a friend round to help eat it all. Other times I would come back from a bike ride and find four doughnuts.

'I kept on telling her I was not hungry but it didn't make any difference. Sometimes she would give me bottles of drink, like Southern Comfort, and even two cherry trees in pots.

'She also gave me DIY equipment, such as door wedges to help in door hanging, and two different sizes of brand new pruning saws.

'Other people in the neighbourhood would get flowers or plants in pots. It was as if she was trying to buy friendships.'

Another neighbour said: 'I got a bottle of drink – I can't remember what it was but it was alcohol and not something that I would ever have.

'Another time I got some flowers. They were very nice but it was awkward because I didn't know what they were for.'

McCullough, 36, was constantly paranoid that people were spreading rumours about her and convinced the Ring doorbell at the family home and wi-fi router had been hacked.

While locals were flummoxed by the odd behaviour, there was growing disquiet about her parents' sudden disappearance.

But no one thought to question her claim that she was there to oversee long-running 'repairs to a retaining wall' while John, 70, and Lois, 71, had supposedly moved to Clacton because they were 'fed up with people gossiping about them'.

An elderly friend of the couple claimed to have been sent postcards from Clacton that he now says must have been written by McCullough, who signed them in her parents' names in an attempt to signal all was well.

Read More

BREAKING NEWS
Daughter, 36, poisoned her father with prescription medication and stabbed her mother to death before lying to her relatives about their whereabouts - and continuing to live in home where she hid their bodies

A friend of Mr McCullough's was left shocked at his decision to leave without notice, considering they had met most Fridays for a drink at the local White Horse pub. But again, trusting locals didn't think to call his daughter's bluff.

Mr Sargeant, who said the couple had already lived in their home for some time when he moved in 20 years ago, was told by Mr McCullough that he was a retired business studies lecturer at Chelmsford College.

'Her parents were quiet and kept to themselves. They didn't really mix at all,' he said.

'If you did see him, he would be scurrying around and looking busy. He would march out of his door and be off.

'The mum was very dowdy and seemed to be shy, introverted and downtrodden. She would walk along, looking down at the pavement and not making eye contact with anyone.'

Residents began to become aware of McCullough living at her parents' house around five years ago.

She didn't appear to work but claimed she made money from selling pencil drawings of horses, dogs and cats to art shops, although those that saw them said they were 'pretty ordinary'.

McCullough claimed she had a flat in Chelmsford which she would return to at weekends – although there are suspicions she just 'hid herself away' in the house.

Butcher Steve Thurley, whose shop is also in The Vineyards, said: 'She mainly came in to buy fillet steak. I wondered what she did for a living – I don't think she had a proper job. She was always immaculately dressed.'

Paul Hastings added McCullough was 'always buying plants from us, like bay trees and box hedging'.

Read More

EXCLUSIVE
How 'old-fashioned' parents were murdered by daughter in cold-blood

But he said: 'I would deliver them to her and she would leave them in front of her house. Then, a few weeks later, I would go past her place and they would be dead from neglect.'

Alan Thompson, the owner of Thompsons TV shop in Great Baddow, described how Mr and Mrs McCullough rented TV equipment from him for 20 years and only bought it off him outright around ten years ago.

He said: 'Lois used to come into the shop and pay her rental every month, usually in cash. She was a nice lady but was very quiet and had no small talk. I think she had a lot on her plate.

'Her husband was very brusque and curt and always seemed in a hurry. I got the impression that he might have a short fuse.

'Sometimes, they would send someone round with payment. I remember Virginia well – she was a bit of a strange one but I would never have thought she was a murderer.

'At one point, around 2021, she asked us to collect her parents' ex-rental equipment and said she had no use for it anymore. She told me her parents had gone to Clacton.'

There were rumours she had contacted the local force 150 times - which Mr Sargeant believed may have been an attempt to turn police attention onto herself.

He added: 'It seems bizarre to me that she was calling police repeatedly when she had two bodies in her house. I was aware there was something not quite right with her and it could have been a cry for help.'

One of McCullough's habits was to spend inordinate amounts of time at the front of the house 'pretending to sweep up when there might only have been six or seven leaves blowing around'.

Mr Sargeant added: 'Looking back, it seems obvious now that she didn't want to spend time in the house with the bodies.'