Porn-obsessed lab technician, 30, who strangled work colleague to death and slit her throat after dating her for less than a month is jailed for 23 years for her murder
A ‘sadistic killer’ lab technician who strangled this colleague girlfriend to death in his parents home before cutting her throat and dumping her body in a country lane was today jailed for life with a minimum term of 23 years.
Police bodycam footage played in Leicester Crown Court showed the moment Ross McCullam told police where he had dumped the body of 23-year-old Megan Newborough on August 6, 2021.
McCullam, 30, previously concocted an elaborate cover-up of the murder, telling investigating officers he had ‘no idea’ where his colleague was and even sending messages and voicemails to her phone feigning concern over her disappearance.
He admitted manslaughter, claiming he killed Megan when he went into a ‘blind rage’ set off by undiagnosed PTSD caused by unreported childhood sexual abuse, but the jury unanimously convicted him of murder in just over an hour and a half.
Ross McCullum (L), who has been convicted of murdering his work colleague Megan Newborough (R) whom he had just begun a relationship with
The killer was undone by his own lies, including having earlier told detectives during a police interview that how, not content with strangling her, he waited on his own account for up to 10 minutes before fetching a carving knife and cutting her throat.
McCullam, who took medication for ADHD, claimed he only used a knife because he was scared people — including Megan – would have been ‘upset’ and ‘cross’ at him for having throttled her.
But jurors heard how the young woman had ‘left clues’ to the truth by the defensive wounds and marks on her body inflicted at McCullam’s parents’ home, where he struck.
There were signs Ms Newborough had fought desperately to fend off McCullam in the lounge.
‘She was covered in injuries, from her shin to the crown of her head,’ said Mr Cammegh.
There were grip marks to both shoulders, and her left arm, likely inflicted as McCullam attempted to ‘silence’ her, and suggesting a ‘sustained, long, merciless, struggle’.
Her FitBit had also been ripped off in the attack, and was later recovered underneath a nearby television.
McCullam, who was stood in the court dock to hear the jury, nodded twice as the verdict was read by the foreman. Pictured, Miss Newborough
Megan Newborough had only just begun seeing Ross McCullam when he killed her
John Cammegh KC, prosecuting, told jurors the savage attack showed McCullam was a ‘sadistic killer’ who had acted with ‘ruthless’ intent.
The lab technician likely murdered Ms Newborough, of Nuneaton, Warwickshire, shortly after she arrived around 8.08pm but no later than 8.49pm on August 6.
Footage captured on her parents’ Ring doorbell camera showed the last time she was seen alive, as she walked to her car.
McCullam’s attempts to cover up his cut-throat murder of Megan included a heartless half-minute voicemail left on her phone just three hours later – in which he giggled and professed supposed love for her.
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