Haunting moment monster breaks down & admits where she hid bloody hammer she used to murder parents
HARROWING footage shows the moment a monster broke down as she revealed to police where to find a bloody hammer used to murder her parents.
Virginia McCullough stabbed her mum Lois, 71, multiple times and hit her with a hammer “like someone badly playing a xylophone” at their home in Chelmsford, Essex.
She also killed her 70-year-old dad-of-five John by poisoning him with prescription medication crushed into his drink.
McCullough then hid her dad’s body in a “makeshift tomb” in a ground floor bedroom.
She wrapped her mum in a sleeping bag and left her in an upstairs wardrobe.
The monster lived with the couple’s bodies for four years after murdering them between June 17 and June 20, 2019.
They were finally discovered in September 2023 – although Lois and John had not been seen alive since August 2018.
McCullough has now been jailed for life with a minimum of 36 years after she pleaded guilty to murder.
Haunting footage released by police shows the killer breaking down as she gives detailed instructions on where to find the weapons she used to kill her parents.
She tells officers that they can find a knife upstairs in the “middle of the brown carpet”.
Voice cracking, the monster adds: “So on the ground floor underneath the stairs, there’s a few like storage boxes and things and in the middle, I think it’s in both boxes or in a bag or something…if you want to shush after this I will but every bit helps…it’s a hammer.
“Yeah, I know. I know but I’m trying to help so you find everything. It will still have blood on it. It’s rusted but will still have traces on it.
“So not cooperating is futile…and I should pay for what I’ve done so yeah.”
The footage also shows the moment McCullough was finally arrested at the home where she lived with her parents’ rotting bodies.
She appears eerily calm as she tells officers “I’ll cooperate” while they handcuff her.
McCullough then points down the hallway before asking: “Can we go in there for a second just so I can tell you something?
“I need to tell you something about what’s upstairs on the top floor as well.”
The officers and McCullough make their way past a wooden door, where the killer says: “My dad’s body is in there”.
As the group stands in a separate room, she is asked about her mum but explains it’s a “little bit more complicated”.
McCullough tells the officers they can find her Lois’ body in a wardrobe “behind the bed at the back next to a sink”.
She adds: “I did know this would kind of come eventually. It’s proper that I serve my punishment.”
The killer later tells police: “Cheer up, at least you caught the bad guy.
“I deserve to get whatever’s coming sentence-wise because that’s the right thing to do and that might give me a bit of peace.”
The court heard she murdered her parents “in cold blood” in the summer of 2019.
She poisoned her dad then left him to die before going to bed.
The following morning, she struck her mum with a hammer as she sat in bed listening to the radio.
McCullough then stabbed Lois, who she described as a “happiness hoover” eight times in the chest and neck.
Lois and John lay undiscovered for four years after they were brutally murdered by their daughter.
To cover her evil tracks, McCullough would constantly lie about their whereabouts – claiming the pair were on unwell or on holiday.
All the while, the monster was using their bank cards to spend their hard-earned pensions – splurging £21,193 on gambling.
A month before the grim discovery was made, police visited the home for a welfare check.
Officers interviewed McCullough unaware the bodies were inside but no search was carried out as there was no indication of anything suspicious.
Essex Police carried out a review and concluded the female officer who interviewed McCullough had done nothing wrong.
Her web of lies finally unravelled in September 2023 when a worried GP raised the alarm over missed appointments.
They discovered a “homemade mausoleum” where John’s body had been entombed.
McCullough had stacked masonry blocks together, which were secured with filler, to make the tomb then covered it with blankets and paintings.
There were also 11 layers of “plastic and other material” covering his body, which was wrapped in a sleeping bag.
Never have I seen a killer so calmly confess to their gruesome crimes
By Holly Christodoulou, Digital Court Editor
IN all my years reporting on some of the most high-profile court cases, I have never seen a confession as chilling as Virginia McCullough’s.
Despite brutally murdering both her parents in cold blood there is nothing that suggests even the slightest glimpse of remorse.
I’ve seen bodycam arrest footage where murderers feign surprise, ask for a cigarette, break down and a fair few “you’re joking” outbursts directed at police.
Most killers just continue lying in the hope their deceit will see them through to a not guilty verdict.
Never so calmly has a monster admitted to their crimes with such brutal honesty that even the cops are telling her to stop.
With her blonde bob and pink sweatshirt, you could be forgiven for thinking McCullough is simply gossiping with her neighbours about something gruesome she read in a local Facebook group.
She even signed her confession like she was signing for an Amazon package.
Chillingly, McCullough didn’t flinch as she walked police past the bedroom where her dad had lain dead for four years.
McCullough seemed more bothered by the sleeves on her top than the gruesome revelation she was making.
In fact the only emotion she showed is when she mentions the bloody hammer she used to murder her defenceless mum. And even then there’s not a real tear in sight.
Thank God the police – in McCullough’s own words – caught the bad guy because who knows how long she would have carried on living in that house of horrors with Lois and John unable to rest in peace.
Nicola Rice a Specialist Prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service said: “McCullough callously and viciously killed both of her parents before concealing their bodies in makeshift tombs within their home address.
“She spent the next four years manipulating and lying to family members, medical staff, financial institutions, and the police, spending her parent’s money and accruing large debts in their name.
“Working with the police we built a strong prosecution case to show the level of McCullough’s deceit both before and after the killings, which helped deliver a guilty plea, thereby sparing the victims’ loved ones the pain of a trial.
“This was a truly disturbing case, which has left behind it a trail of devastation, and I can only hope that the sentence passed today will help those who loved and cared for Lois and John begin to heal.”