On 15 September 2023, armed police forced their way into a house in the Essex village of Great Baddow. Inside, Virginia McCullough calmly told officers she was a double murderer, and showed them where to find her parents' bodies. She had kept them both hidden for more than four years.

In this episode, forensic psychologist Kerry Daynes examines how a full-time carer stole from, deceived and killed the elderly parents who depended on her. She also explains how the killer then managed to keep up the pretence that her victims were still alive.

In this episode

• The police raid and the extraordinary bodycam footage of McCullough's arrest and confession
• Life in a close-knit village, and how Virginia appeared to those around her
• How she gained control of her parents' finances, and where the money went
• The fake texts and phone calls to her sisters, and the phone records that exposed them
• The GP surgery staff whose "professional curiosity" led to a welfare check
• The planning and events of June 2019
• How she hid the bodies and carried on as normal
• The court case, the judge's sentencing remarks, and the life sentence with a minimum term of 36 years

Kerry's psychological insights

• Why McCullough seemed so calm and matter-of-fact when police arrived, and what lay behind her closing remark to the officers
• How lies, debt and an out-of-control gambling addiction can trap someone
• Why Kerry sees this story as one of domestic abuse: financial abuse, gaslighting and, finally, lethal violence
• Why McCullough's claim that she felt "trapped" by caring for her parents doesn't hold up

Featuring

• Kerry Daynes, forensic psychologist and presenter
• Graham Bartlett, crime author and former Detective Superintendent
• Matt Lee, journalist, Essex Live
• Debbie Pollard and Rachel Murray, who ran the village flower shop

Content note: This episode deals with murder, financial and domestic abuse of elderly people, and addiction. Listener discretion is advised.

OFFERS FROM OUR PARTNERS

Can YOU tell when someone is lying?

Dr Cliff Lansley can. He's the world-renowned expert behind the Six Channels Analysis System (SCAnS), a model Kerry uses when studying criminal behaviour. His team at EmotionIntell has created SCAnS Online, a course that teaches the skills of human behaviour analysis. It features real-world case studies and tutoring from Cliff, and you can complete it at home at your own pace.

Listeners get 10% off the normal price at emotionintell.com/theprofiler. Enter the discount code theprofiler.

Go deeper with Audible

If you enjoy exploring the psychology behind these cases, Audible has a huge selection of true crime books, including a couple of Kerry's own. Sign up for a free 30-day trial at theprofiler.co.uk/audible and help support the podcast in the process.

Stay in touch

• Website and weekly email: theprofiler.co.uk
• Follow Kerry Daynes on all social media platforms, or via her Substack, which has articles to go with nearly every Profiler episode
• If you enjoy the show, please follow or subscribe, leave a five-star rating or review, and share it with fellow true crime fans

The Profiler with Kerry Daynes is a Shearwater Media and Heromedia production.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In December 1996, the Midlands was gripped by what looked like a "road rage" murder. Lee Harvey, 25, was stabbed to death on a quiet country lane. His fiancée, Tracie Andrews, bruised and battered, appeared before the cameras to describe a crazed stranger with "mad, starey eyes."

But the story began to fall apart. In this episode, forensic psychologist Kerry Daynes examines how Andrews built a seemingly perfect cover story, performed it for the nation, and was then found out.

In this episode

• The night of the attack, and the account Andrews gave police
• The extraordinary press conference, held just 36 hours after the murder
• The moment in front of the cameras that made one seasoned journalist think: "I think she did it"
• A volatile, on-off relationship, and what police and friends uncovered about it
• The witnesses, forensic evidence and physical clues that dismantled her story
• The trial at Birmingham Crown Court, the guilty verdict, and the confession that came only after her appeal failed
• Andrews's release in 2011 and her new life under a new identity

Kerry's psychological insights

• Did Andrews get "a little too comfortable" and forget to play the victim?
• Why Kerry thinks the press conference deserves a "Best Criminal Acting Performance" shortlist
• What Andrews's overdose might say about love, guilt and fear of exposure
• Why Kerry says her "self defence" claim doesn't stand up
• Why some couples should simply never be together

Featuring

• Kerry Daynes, forensic psychologist and presenter
• Ian Johnston, then Detective Superintendent with West Mercia Police and senior investigating officer on the case
• Rod Chaytor, former Midlands correspondent for the Daily Mirror

Some of the interviews were originally featured in the Warner Bros. Discovery series Faking It. To watch it, go to discoveryplus.com.

Content note: This episode deals with murder, domestic violence and a suicide attempt. Listener discretion is advised.

OFFERS FROM OUR PARTNERS

Can YOU tell when someone is lying?

Dr Cliff Lansley can. He's the world-renowned expert behind the Six Channels Analysis System (SCAnS), a model Kerry uses when studying criminal behaviour. His team at EmotionIntell has created SCAnS Online, a course that teaches the skills of human behaviour analysis. It features real-world case studies and tutoring from Cliff, and you can complete it at home at your own pace.

Listeners get 10% off the normal price at emotionintell.com/theprofiler. Enter the discount code theprofiler.

Go deeper with Audible

If you enjoy exploring the psychology behind these cases, Audible has a huge selection of true crime books, including a couple of Kerry's own. Sign up for a free 30-day trial at theprofiler.co.uk/audible and help support the podcast in the process.

Stay in touch

• Website and weekly email: theprofiler.co.uk
• Follow Kerry Daynes on all social media platforms, or via her Substack, where she writes about the cases in even greater detail
• If you enjoy the show, please like, follow or subscribe, leave a five-star review, and share it with fellow true crime fans

The Profiler with Kerry Daynes is a Shearwater Media and Heromedia production.

Credits

• Presented by Kerry Daynes

• Produced by Shearwater Media and Heromedia Productions

• Executive producers: Jeff Anderson and Steve Anderson

• Editing and Music: Rob Warner

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the night of March 3rd, 2021, during the Covid lockdown, 33-year-old Sarah Everard was walking home from a friend's house in south London. She never arrived. Days later, detectives raced the last person seen with her to one of their own: a serving Metropolitan Police officer named Wayne Couzens.

In this episode, forensic psychologist Kerry Daynes pieces together Sarah's final journey and examines the failings that let her killer hide in plain sight inside Britain's biggest police force.

In this episode

• The eerie, near-empty London of lockdown, and why the phrase "she was just walking home" struck such a chord with the public
• The dashcam and bus footage, and the car registration that led detectives to Couzens
• Couzens's bodycam interview, and the "gang" story he invented when police pressed him
• How deception experts read his body language and his words
• His careful planning, the "kidnap kit" and the rehearsal drive
• The vigil on Clapham Common, the police response, and the sentencing at the Old Bailey
• What came out afterwards about his earlier offences, and the Met's promises of reform

Kerry's psychological insights

• Why Sarah's disappearance gripped the country, and affected the everyday safety calculations so many women make
• The warning signs colleagues reportedly saw, and why Kerry calls him a "ticking time bomb"
• What his planning tells us about the fantasies he had likely nursed for years
• How an egocentric killer can compartmentalise and put on a show of normality

Featuring

• Kerry Daynes, forensic psychologist and presenter
• Steve Keogh, former Scotland Yard homicide detective
• Dan Rivers, ITV News
• Minnie Stephenson, Channel 4 News
• Professor Dawn Archer, linguistics and deception expert

Content note: This episode deals with abduction, rape and murder. Listener discretion is advised.

Special deals from our partners:

Can YOU tell when someone is lying? Dr Cliff Lansley can. He's the world-renowned expert behind the Six Channels Analysis System (SCAnS), a model Kerry uses when studying criminal behaviour. His team at EmotionIntell has created SCAnS Online, a course that teaches the skills of human behaviour analysis. It features real-world case studies and tutoring from Cliff, and you can complete it at home at your own pace.

Listeners get 10% off the normal price at emotionintell.com/theprofiler. Enter the discount code theprofiler.

Go deeper with Audible

If you enjoy exploring the psychology behind these cases, Audible has a huge selection of true crime books, including a couple of Kerry's own. Sign up for a free 30-day trial at theprofiler.co.uk/audible and help support the podcast in the process.

Stay in touch

• Website and weekly email: theprofiler.co.uk
• Follow Kerry Daynes on all social media platforms, or via her Substack, which has articles to go with nearly every episode
• If you enjoy the show, please follow or subscribe, leave a five-star rating or review, and share it with fellow true crime fans

Credits

• Presented by Kerry Daynes

• Produced by Shearwater Media and Heromedia Productions

• Executive producers: Jeff Anderson and Steve Anderson

• Editing and Music: Rob Warner

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.