I hope she haunts you, victim’s sister tells murderer in court

Megan Newborough was brutally killed by trusted work colleague Ross McCullam just three weeks after they started dating.

Megan Newborough (Leicestershire Police/PA) (PA Media)

The sister of a promising young woman brutally murdered by her male co-worker confronted him in court as he was given a life sentence, telling the lab technician “I hope she haunts you forever”.

Ross McCullam, who was fascinated by violent pornography and serial killers, sat weeping to himself in the dock of Leicester Crown Court as Megan Newborough’s oldest sibling told him he was “the definition of a monster”.

McCullam was jailed for life with a minimum of 23 years on Friday, after he was convicted in 90 minutes on Monday of murdering “stellar” Miss Newborough, a work colleague at brickmaker Ibstock.

Sentencing, Judge Philip Head told McCullam: “It was her dreadful misfortune to become involved in a relationship with you.”

The 30-year-old lab worker had started a fledgling relationship with trusting HR officer Miss Newborough only three weeks before he launched an unprovoked and violent attack on her at his parents’ home in Windsor Close, Coalville, Leicestershire, on August 6 last year.

There, he throttled 23-year-old Miss Newborough and then fetched a knife and cut her neck, later telling police in interview he did it in a “blind rage”, triggered by undiagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) caused by unreported childhood sexual abuse.

He attempted to blame Miss Newborough, of Nuneaton, Warwickshire, suggesting she had inadvertently triggered his attack while starting to give McCullam – who had erectile dysfunction – oral sex.

But he was undone by his web of lies, including mounting an elaborate cover-up which the judge called a “detailed, calculated and long-lasting series of deceits”; dumping her body, changing his blood-stained clothes, later texting her to say “you were amazing” and asking if she had got home safe.

We are a large and close family who have been ripped apart by one evil human being

Megan Newborough's father, Anthony Newborough

He then lied repeatedly to police investigating Miss Newborough as a missing person, before eventually revealing where he had dumped her body after killing her.

In a chilling post-script to his offending, hours after dumping Miss Newborough’s topless body in undergrowth using her own car, he masturbated to pornography for 17 minutes, and then recorded and sent a 30-second voice message to his victim’s phone in which he said “I had a fun time earlier.”

McCullam was obsessed with violent pornography and sexual imagery, but later laughed in front of the jury about masturbating himself after the killing, telling jurors: “It relieved the stress… I know it looks bad.”

McCullam had also conducted online searches linked to serial killer Levi Bellfield, Soham killer Ian Huntley and Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe.

Eight of the 12-member jury returned to court on Friday to see McCullam given a life sentence.

He was also jailed in front of more than 20 members of Miss Newborough’s close-knit family by Judge Philip Head, who described the killing as a “truly dreadful” crime.

He said: “I regard you cutting her throat as a very substantial aggravating factor.

“It was the truly dreadful and sustained way you ensured that intention to kill was achieved.”

Despite McCullam’s unhealthy hour-a-day porn habit and what her family called the “brutalised” treatment of Miss Newborough’s body – which had 28 injuries from head to toe – the judge said there was “no sure evidence to justify the conclusion the killing itself involved either sadistic or sexual conduct”.

She was our princess and the defendant, with his evil hands, his strength, together with his evil mind has taken her away from us forever

Megan Newborough's father

The judge also said he could not be sure McCullam intended to decapitate his victim, although Miss Newborough’s family were certain that was violent McCullam’s intention, telling him so in court during their powerful victim impact statements.

Miss Newborough’s father, Anthony Newborough, wept as he said the family had lost their “beautiful treasured daughter Megan, in such horrific circumstances”.

He added: “We are a large and close family who have been ripped apart by one evil human being.”

“It is like a horror film, but it is a true story, Megan’s story, our story,” he said.

“These events have caused us so much pain and anguish we struggle that Megan, in her last moments, would have been so frightened.

“She was loved by so many and touched so many lives for those she met and left a great gaping hole that can never be filled.

“She was our princess and the defendant with his evil hands, his strength, together with his evil mind has taken her away from us forever.”

Outside court, her younger brother John had paid tribute to “exceptional” Miss Newborough, “loved by all”, who was ready to move into her first home two weeks after she was killed.

“She was so eager to start the rest of her life, she ended up losing the one she was living,” he said.

Earlier, in court, Claire Newborough, Miss Newborough’s older sister, said McCullam had made a choice, by running the murder charge to trial, that had put the family through “seven weeks of hell”, despite him having launched an “horrific and barbaric” attack on her sibling.

She added: “We fully believe the defendant tried to decapitate Megan, this brutalisation of my sister’s body is something we will never be able to come to terms with.”

“She was cruelly dumped, topless, in a cold, dark field, where the defendant thought she would never be found,” she said.

“The thing Megan hated most was feeling cold, and as her big sister, the very thought of her so cold and alone for all those hours, has destroyed me.”

Turning to McCullam, who was sitting crying to himself in the dock a few short yards across the courtroom, Claire Newborough described him as the very “definition” of a “monster”.

She always thought she could fix people, but fixing evil people is not possible

Claire Newborough, Megan Newborough's sister

“You are an unpredictable menace, a danger to women, obsessed with serial killers,  murderers of women and you appear to crave some sort of notoriety,” she said.

“We have no idea what Megan possibly saw in you,” she added.

“She always thought she could fix people, but fixing evil people is not possible.

“You tricked her, murdered her, brutalised her and left her in such an undignified way.”