Daughter's brutal murder of parents in Chelmsford to be told in Channel 5 documentary

The case of a young woman who cruelly murdered her parents and then lived alongside their corpses has been told in a new documentary airing this weekend. Virginia McCullough's murder of her parents, John and Lois, near Chelmsford is re-told in a documentary on Channel 5.

Virginia, 36, was jailed in October for life with a minimum term of 36 years after admitting murder having poisoned both John, 70, and Lois, 71, with a cocktail of prescription drugs in their drugs in 2021. The dose proved fatal for her dad but Lois survived, leading Virginia to fatally attack her with a hammer and stab her multiple times.

The twisted killer then embarked on a journey of deception and manipulation, spreading lies about her parents' whereabouts when she was really living alongside their bodies at the house they shared on Pump Hill in Great Baddow. The couple's bodies - which had been hidden in a wardrobe and a makeshift tomb - remained there until police officers came to arrest the blonde killer in September 2023.

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The moment of her arrest was caught on police bodyworn camera footage where she immediately confesses to the crimes, directs officers to where she kept her parents' corpses and even told officers to "cheer up" as they had "caught the bad guy".

Virginia kept her parents' deaths secret for four years and three months. She pretended they were still alive by texting siblings pretending to be her mum, contacting her dad's pension company whilst pretending to be him, opening new credit cards in their names, taking their winter fuel payments and sending pre-printed birthday cards using an online service. In total the online gambler financially benefited by almost £150,000.

Mr Justice Johnson, sentencing McCullough, said: "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 murders were therefore done in the expectation that you would gain financially as a result of your parents’ deaths. They were murders “done for gain”. You think more of money than you do of humanity."

Killed by Our Daughter: The McCullough Murders aired for the first time on Tuesday (November 12) and will be repeated on Channel 5 at 10:30pm on Sunday (November 17).