Reason why Virginia McCullough's prison sentence won't be increased after despite appeal claiming it was too lenient

Virginia McCullough and the family home in Great Baddow where she kept her parents' bodies for four years
-Credit:Essex Police


A woman who brutally killed both her parents and kept their bodies in the family home for four years will not have her prison sentence extended - despite an application to do so. Virginia McCullough, 37, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 36 years after admitting killing her mum and dad in Chelmsford.

McCullough murdered her dad, John, 70, with a cocktail of prescription drugs and violently attacked her mum, Lois, 7, in June 2019. She then concealed the bodies and lived alongside the corpses at the family home on Pump Hill in Great Baddow, near Chelmsford, until her arrest in September 2023.

Mr Justice Johnson, when sentencing McCullough, said the killings had a "substantial degree of both premeditation and planning". He considered handing down a whole life order, meaning she would never be able to apply for parole, but instead sentenced McCullough to life with a minimum tariff.

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The killer's sentence was referred to the Attorney General's Office under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme. It reviews sentences for specific crimes, including murder, and can result in prison terms being increased.

However, McCullough's case has not met the threshold to be referred to the Court of Appeal. It can only be passed on when the sentencing judge makes a gross error or imposes a sentence outside the range of sentences available in the circumstances. McCullough would have been subjected to a 40-year minimum term if convicted after a trial.

Mr Justice Johnson, sentencing, said: "Having regard to all the circumstances of the case, including your immediate admissions to the police and your guilty pleas when you were first arraigned, this is not one of those cases of the most exceptional seriousness where a whole life order, as a sentence of last resort, is required."

Virginia McCullough being arrested by Essex Police officers at her home in Great Baddow on September 15, 2023
Virginia McCullough being arrested by Essex Police officers at her home in Great Baddow on September 15, 2023 -Credit:Essex Police

The sentencing hearing heard McCullough was relied on by her parents to deal with some of their finances. By June 17, 2019, she was almost £60,000 in debt. That evening, she fatally poisoned John, but the combination was not enough to kill Lois. She then used a hammer and knife to attack her.

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The couple were concealed at the family home for four years and three months. She financially benefitted by almost £150,000 and pretended to be her parents to trick her family and claim money cruelly.

"You are described by one of your sisters as having always been a compulsive liar," Justice Johnson said. "That description is clearly justified, but it hardly captures the elaborate, extensive and enduring web of deceit that you spun and maintained over months and years."

They added: "The murders were 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."