Miss Newborough’s sibling 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.”
In her victim impact statement read to court, Miss Newborough’s older sibling added that having been subjected to a “terrifying” and unprovoked attack, McCullam heaped fresh “suffering” on his victim.
“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”.
“The definition of a monster is cruel, frightening and evil – and it is to my relief the defendant has been recognised as a monster,” she said.
“You are an unpredictable menace, a danger to women, obsessed with serial killers,” adding he also seemed obsessed with his own notoriety.
Claire Newborough, Miss Newborough’s sister, then told the still crying McCullam: “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.
“I hope she haunts you.”
Father weeps in court
Jailing 30-year-old McCullam, of Windsor Close, Coalville, Leicestershire, Judge Philip Head 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.”
Earlier the judge described 23-year-old Miss Newborough, of Nuneaton, Warwickshire, as a “stellar” personality, who was “supportive, patient and caring” of friends, colleagues and family.
Addressing McCullam, he told the lab worker: “It was her dreadful misfortune to become involved in a relationship with you.”
Megan Newborough’s father, Anthony Newborough, wept in a court victim impact statement 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.”