Exclusive: Cruel Chelmsford woman who killed her own parents backed by £12k in legal aid

A woman who gained financially from killing her parents has been backed by more than £12k in legal aid - with the figure potentially still able to rise. Virginia McCullough was 36 when she was arrested last September for the murders.

She made a cocktail of prescription drugs to poison her mum, Lois, 71, and dad John, 70, in June 2019 before living alongside their corpses for four years. The dose proved fatal for John but Lois survived until Virginia carried out a "murderous attack" in which she attacker her mum with a hammer and knife.

Virginia was almost £60,000 in debt when she poisoned her parents' drinks. The 36-year-old, who told officers to 'cheer up' in a chilling arrest caught on camera, was jailed with a minimum term of 36 years at Chelmsford Crown Court earlier this year.

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Figures revealed under the Freedom of Information Act show McCullough's legal team has received £12,206.60 in legal aid payments. The Legal Aid Agency warned: "This is the figure at the point of writing, however, given how recently the trial has concluded the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) has not yet made final payments in this case."

A Legal Aid Agency spokesperson said: "Virginia McCullough did not receive a penny of this money – it went directly to lawyers so she could have a fair trial and ultimately be imprisoned for her crimes."

Legal aid can help someone meet the costs of legal advice and representation in court. Usually an applicant needs to show that the case is eligible for legal aid, the problem is serious and that they cannot afford to pay for legal costs. Everyone has the right to free legal advice and children under 16 (or under 18 and in full-time education) receive automatic legal aid as do people on certain benefits.

Criminal legal aid is available to everyone in the Police Station irrespective of their financial circumstances. Legal aid in the magistrates’ court is subject to the application of a strict means test.

Anyone facing a Crown Court trial is eligible for legal aid, subject to a strict means test. Depending on their means, applicants for criminal legal aid can be required to pay contributions up to the entire cost of the defence if they are convicted of at least one offence with which they are charged. Without legal representation defendants could argue they have not received a fair hearing and continue appeals through the justice system, costing taxpayers more money.

Mr Justice Johnson, sentencing McCullough, said John and Lois "relied on you to deal with some of their financial arrangements". In the hours after the murders, McCullough concealed her parents' bodies in a wardrobe and makeshift tomb. The day after the deaths she pretended to be her mum to get a new credit card which she used to treat herself with new clothes and jewellery.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard McCullough pretended her parents were still alive, including texting a family member from Lois' phone to say they were in Walton. McCullough, who avoided a trial after admitting the offences, took her parents' pension payments amounting to almost £136k, spent money on their credit cards, used their bank accounts and took their winter fuel payments.

The Judge 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."

They added: "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."

DS Rob Kirby of Essex Police said McCullough killed her parents "in cold blood". He said: "Her actions were considered, meticulous and carried out in such a way as to conceal what she had done for as long as possible."

They added: "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."