An urban explorer claims he did nothing wrong while filming inside a murder scene
Chelmsford: So, there’s this urban explorer named Ben who’s caught up in a bit of a police investigation. He posted a video of himself inside the house where a couple was murdered by their daughter, Virginia McCullough. He insists he didn’t do anything wrong.
Ben, who’s got a huge following for his videos of abandoned places, filmed inside the home where John and Lois McCullough’s bodies were hidden for four years. He says the place hadn’t been cleaned up since Virginia was arrested in 2023.
EssexLive has seen the footage but decided not to share it because it’s pretty graphic. The police are looking into how Ben got the video, and the McCullough family is understandably upset about it.
Ben claims he found the door open and thinks he was respectful while filming. He said the house has since been cleaned up, but he felt no harm was done. He mentioned that some people might find his footage insensitive, but he argues that crime scene photos online can be much worse.
He was aware of Virginia’s arrest and thought it was wild, like something out of a horror movie. It’s hard to believe she lived with her parents’ bodies for so long without anyone noticing.
Virginia McCullough was sentenced to a minimum of 36 years in prison for poisoning her dad and brutally attacking her mom. Ben described the house as frozen in time, with everyday items still lying around, like orange squash and noodles in the sink.
He noted that Virginia had spray-painted the bathroom fixtures black in a careless way. The house has been left untouched for a year and a half, and it’s clear no one is going back there.
After killing her parents in June 2019, Virginia racked up debts in their names and spent their pension money. Their bodies were hidden in sleeping bags, with one in a wardrobe and the other in a makeshift mausoleum.
A missing persons investigation kicked off in September 2023 after their doctor raised concerns, leading to Virginia’s arrest. The judge made it clear that she violated the trust that should exist between parents and their children.
