MOST SHOCKING KILLER CONFESSIONS!

MURDER IS ONE THING, BUT ADMITTING TO IT IS ANOTHER

- Emma Levett

Police body-camera footage taken as an officer entered the McCullough home in Essex, South East England, in September 2023 is deeply disturbing.

"Cheer up, at least you've caught the bad guy," a horrifyingly calm Virginia McCullough tells them. She then details exactly where the bodies of her parents, Lois and John, are hidden.

McCullough, 36, plainly lays out that she poisoned her father and stabbed her mother four years earlier, in June 2019, after running up huge debts on their credit cards. Their bodies had been concealed at the family home ever since, where Virginia also lived.

A court later heard how McCullough told officers she "deserved to get whatever's coming, sentence-wise," and that it "might give [her] a bit of peace".

In October, McCullough was sentenced to life in jail with a non-parole period of 36 years. Her confession may seem unusual but criminal psychologist, Tim WatsonMunro, says there are many reasons for a murderer to admit to their crime.

"It may be because it leads to a discounted sentence," Tim tells New Idea. "Or the killer] may have had an epiphany and want to tell the truth to unburden themselves.