Police reveal how Ross McCullam covered up brutal murder of Megan Newborough

Detective Inspector Jenni Heggs from Leicestershire Police tells ITV News that Ross McCullam has been bragging to fellow prisoners about how he brutally killed Megan Newborough

The detective inspector who investigated the murder of Megan Newborough, 23, has told ITV News how Ross McCullam, 30, tried to cover up her murder.

Lab worker McCullam from Coalville, Leicestershire, has been found guilty of murdering his colleague and romantic interest, Megan Newborough - after strangling her and then cutting her throat, before dumping her body in a woodland on Friday 6 August 2021.

"He's a monster. He's a wolf in sheep's clothing, he comes across as a very quiet, quite naive and vulnerable person," Detective Inspector Heggs tells ITV News.

She adds: "But when you start to dig into McCullam, and who he is, and we know through the text messages, how dark of a character he is.

"And then how he's behaved in prison - there are prisoners that gave evidence against McCullam because they were appalled by how much he was bragging about what he had done to Megan.

"So I think he probably paints himself as one person. The reality is he is very, very different.

"And the streets are safer for getting McCullam locked up and convicted."

What happened to Megan Newborough?

Detective Inspector Heggs details what happened to the 23-year-old HR worker, saying: "Megan told the family that she was going for a walk and she never came home.

"What we know is that Megan left her family home about 7.30pm on the evening of Friday 6th August 2021, telling the family that she was going to meet a friend.

"She was brutally killed by Ross McCullam within an hour and a half of leaving her home address."

She adds: "We know that she went to Ross's home address where she was brutally murdered. And then what happened after that really is quite shocking.

"Ross performed a series of acts to try and cover up the murder.

"So we know that he placed Megan in her own vehicle, and then drove that vehicle to a remote location.

"Disposing of her mobile phone en route, placing her body over a wall in a remote location and then disposing of the vehicle at another location in Loughborough before coolly and calmly getting a taxi home."

"The family obviously were really anxious Megan didn't return home that evening. She was expected to be home within a couple of hours of leaving the home address.

"So overnight, they made calls to friends and family, but nobody's heard or seen from Megan.

"The following day, Megan's family reported her missing. It was dealt with as a missing person inquiry to start with, but there were real concerns about Megan when later on that evening, her family located her phone using the Find My iPhone app in a bush.

"And the concern for Meghan massively increased at that point and it was dealt with as a kidnap inquiry.

"Police identified Ross McCullam as a person that they needed to speak to initially as the person believed to have been the last person to be or see Megan, and inquiries with Ross McCullam began via phone that afternoon.

"Suggested from him that Megan had indeed been at his house the night before, but she had left the home address about nine o'clock to get a McDonald's but he had not heard from her since.

"Obviously, we now know that the reason that nobody had heard from her is because he had killed her at the home address, and then disposed of the body.

"It later became apparent when Ross was arrested on suspicion of kidnap and he was interviewed, that he had killed Megan and he did admit that he killed Megan when he was spoken to by officers and advised officers the location of her body and the location of her vehicle as well.

"And that is when a murder investigation commenced.

In the hours after Megan's murder, McCullam tried to cover up what had happened, even texting her phone to tell her how amazing she was - just moments after strangling her and cutting her throat.

McCullam had also searched on the internet 'how to tell a girl you love her', before leaving Megan a voicemail, saying how much he loved her.

"He texts her...knowing that she was dead

Detective Inspector Heggs said: "He attempted to clean the scene of where he had killed her.

"He put Megan in the car, but before he left, he texts Megan, knowing that she was dead and in the car and what he was about to do to her body.

"He texts her making reference to the fact how fantastic she was.

"He then drove Megan's body in the car through an area throwing her phone out of the car.

"Presumably so that it couldn't be traced or it couldn't be tracked and he threw it into a bush.

"He then drove several miles to remote area and disposed of her body. He left the car in a car park. And then got a taxi home.

"He then conducted a number of Google searches for things such as how to tell a girl that you love her.

"And after conducting that search, knowing Megan was dead, he's then left a voicemail telling her that he loves her, and then sent her a series of other text messages seemingly showing concern, asking her whether she got home okay.

"It was calculated. It was clearly him trying to cover his tracks, trying to put off any potential a police investigation that may have clearly did occur. And then and then he carried on looking for serial killers on internet searches, we know that he looked at pornography.

"And probably one of the most disturbing things that we found was that the following morning when he continued sending Megan text messages concerned for her whereabouts.

"We know that he was looking at pornography, we know that he was looking at pornography for quite a period of time. And within those that period of time, he was saying sending Megan text messages as well."

Leicestershire Police say following the investigation, it believes McCullam 'enjoyed' murdering Megan, that it 'excited' him and that 'he has the potential to kill again'.

"I genuinely believed this from the offset - that Ross enjoyed killing Megan. I genuinely think that it excited him.

"And I genuinely believe that he has the potential to kill again, from his actions afterwards.

"He certainly didn't show signs of any remorse whatsoever. And even throughout the trial, in terms of the killing of Megan, he really hasn't shown any remorse.

"He seems to have shown remorse around the cover up, and he seems to have shown remorse around getting caught.

"But in terms of the actual murder itself, there really hasn't been any remorse shown. I genuinely believe that he's a dangerous person and had the potential to kill again, had we not arrested him.

"But what it shows to me is that Ross was completely in control of what he was doing. And he knew what he was doing and obviously, part of his defence has been that he had lost control.

"I completely refute that and genuinely believe that his actions both during and after Megan's death show how much control he was in."

Finally, police praised Megan's family for their strength throughout a trial where they'd had to listen to the graphic detail of how she was murdered and watch McCullam show no remorse for what he did to her.

Detective Inspector Heggs said: "Their lives have been turned upside down. There is not a day, an hour, a minute that they don't think of Megan. They still don't understand and I don't think will ever truly understand why McCullam has done this to Megan.

"They certainly want to make sure that Megan's legacy lives on and that no other family has to go through what they've gone through.

"But the way that they have conducted themselves throughout the whole investigation, throughout the whole trial is unbelievable.

"The amount of dignity and humility that they've shown without emotion when I have no doubt that inside they just want to scream in that courtroom.

"And they've not, they sat there and had to listen to the most horrendous detail about how Meghan has died and watch Ross down there in the box and describe what he has done.

"And they will never be the same."