Lab worker who throttled and cut throat of female colleague jailed for life

A murderer who throttled and cut the throat of a trusting female work colleague he had been dating for less than a month has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 23 years.

Ross McCullam, who had admitted manslaughter before his trial but denied murder, was convicted in little more than 90 minutes by a jury at Leicester Crown Court on Monday.

He was jailed at the same court on Friday in front of more than 20 members of 23-year-old HR worker Miss Newborough’s family, by Judge Philip Head who described the killing as a “truly dreadful” crime.

He said of “stellar” Miss Newborough: “It was her dreadful misfortune to become involved in a relationship with you.”

McCullam, of Windsor Close, Coalville, Leicestershire, had claimed he acted only in a “blind rage” after a loss of control which Miss Newborough had inadvertently triggered during oral sex, after an incident at his parents’ home on August 6 2021.

The porn-obsessed 30-year-old lab technician, who met Miss Newborough, of Nuneaton, Warwickshire, at brickmaker Ibstock where both worked, sought to blame his attack on undiagnosed PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) caused by unreported childhood sexual abuse.

But he was undone by his own web of lies, including mounting an elaborate cover-up in which he dumped her body in undergrowth and changed his blood-stained clothes, and also texted her to say “you were amazing” and asking if she had got home safe.

During her victim impact statement Miss Newborough’s older sister Claire Newborough, addressing a weeping McCullam in the dock, told him: “I hope she haunts you.”