'My sister killed our parents and lived with their mummified bodies for four years'

A woman whose sister killed their parents then kept their mummified bodies at home for four years has spoken of her own shame and guilt.

Louise Hopkins' sister Virginia McCullough pleaded guilty to the murders of her dad John and mum Lois McCullough, who were both in their 70s. Debt-ridden McCullough, 36, is thought to have murdered her parents fearing they were about to expose the credit card fraud she had carried out in their names

McCullough is now serving a minimum of 36 years behind bars after admitting killing them both in June 2019. For the four years following the murders she plundered her parents' bank accounts, using the cover of Covid to conceal their murders from family and to cash in their as their bodies decomposed.

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She stuffed John's body in a "home-made mausoleum" made from B&Q bricks under his bed in the downstairs study of their unremarkable three-bed terrace home. And she wrapped Lois' corpse in plastic sheeting and a sleeping bag before sealing her in a wardrobe in an upstairs bedroom of the property.

Now her sister has spoken out for the first time, having not attended her sister's trial. She told how she struggled to come to terms with the murders, in a new interview on podcast The Speakmans Hope Clinic, where she is interviewed by therapists Eva and Nik Speakman, who are often seen on This Morning.

Louise, who is the eldest of five sisters, told the married Speakmans that she felt “shame” and “guilt”, even though she became estranged from her parents decades earlier, and had nothing to do with them.

She said: “I was invited to go [to the trial] but didn’t want to because I’d made my peace that I’d left the family and didn’t want anything more to do with them.

“I walked away from all of them in 2018 after physically leaving home in 1997. The worst thing is that my parents were left to rot. The grief has haunted me.

“I have had bouts of thinking I must be to blame because I walked away from all that. I’ve had various flashbacks, just feeling really guilty that if I don’t talk about it, it chews me up and I feel physically ill. I’m sad and at points I’ve screamed uncontrollably.”

Louise added: “I will never forget them. I loved them, but I didn’t like them.”

Louise also told The Sun: “I forgive my sister but I would not visit her. I have created a life of peace and tranquillity for me and my children.”

During the court case it was revealed that McCullough made a chilling confession to officers after her arrest. She said she poisoned her father with a "cocktail of prescription drugs" in his Guinness, red wine and brandy. She gave Lois a sleeping drug but it was not enough to kill her, so when she woke in the morning and discovered her father dead with rigor mortis, she knew she had to kill her mother.

It was then she attacked her mother as she lay defenceless on her bed listening to music, the court was told. She told cops: "I did go upstairs, I didn't really have a plan as such. I had a rough idea of what I might do. So I had Wilkos garden gloves, I had a kitchen knife and I had a hammer. I went into my mother's only wearing the gloves.

"I had the hammer and the knife was still in my room. I knew I was going to be arrested for the murder of my father and I was going to go to prison. I looked at her and she looked so innocent. She was just listening to the radio, she was not doing anything. I went in with the hammer probably about four times. I went in three times maybe to build up the gumption, I knew I had to get it done. I raised the hammer a couple of times, I didn't do anything. I raised it a final time and I struck a blow...

"She didn't pass... She turned over and said, 'What are you doing?' That's when I hesitated for 20 seconds because she was staring at me in disbelief... I realised the hammer was not going to work. I didn't want her to suffer, I wanted her to be like my father, but my mother didn't drink...

"I left the room, I took off one of the garden gloves... I got the knife, which was from Lakeland, it was a large kitchen knife. I didn't have much time, she was still awake, she didn't say anything, other than, 'What are you doing?'"

After stabbing her, McCullough said: "I took her hand... she stopped moving and then that's when she just passed. I kissed her hand. That's when I came to the realisation I had killed them both. Then I just went for a wander around the house for a little bit."

After the murders McCullough - who is diagnosed as paranoid and autistic - went into Chelmsford town centre and bought plastic gloves and sleeping bags using her father's credit card. She also revisited the GP on the afternoon of June 18 and before visiting she phoned them. She was crying and saying quietly, "Sorry, I love you daddy."

Two days after the killing she placed an order with B&Q for 40 building blocks, cement, and sharp sand. A month later a step ladder, paper roll and gorilla tape among other items.

But she was able to keep the murders a secret for years, posing as her parents in text messages and telling family they were spending time travelling. Ms Wilding revealed John, Lois and Virginia were in debt at the time of the deaths.