A YouTuber who murdered his pregnant partner while faking a livestream alibi has been sentenced to 31 years in prison. Stephen McCullagh, 36, from Lisburn, County Antrim, showed no emotion as he was sentenced at Belfast Crown Court for the 'cold-blooded and calculated' killing of Natalie McNally.
The 32-year-old mother-to-be was stabbed, strangled and bludgeoned at her home in Lurgan, County Armagh, on 18 December 2022. The trial judge, Mr Justice Kinney, described the attack as 'excessive and gratuitous violence' and said McCullagh had planned the murder 'in remorseless detail'.
While the attack unfolded, a pre-recorded session of McCullagh playing Grand Theft Auto ran on his YouTube channel to give the impression he was at his own home 17 miles away. The recording, made four nights earlier, showed him wearing a Santa hat, eating snacks, drinking Guinness and joking. 'I am not leaving the house tonight,' he said in the broadcast.
Prosecutor Catherine Kierans called the alibi an 'elaborate charade' and said she had never seen a domestic murder with such premeditation. After the discovery of McNally's body, police initially arrested McCullagh but released him after learning of the broadcast. He even attended McNally's wake, appearing grief-stricken, and was allowed time alone with her coffin.
When police established the livestream was pre-recorded, they re-arrested and charged McCullagh. He was convicted in March after a five-week trial that heard he had worn a disguise and gloves on his way to McNally's home. The judge said McCullagh intended to kill both his girlfriend and their unborn child, and that he had placed her face in a dog bowl after the attack to humiliate her.
Speaking outside court, McNally's father, Noel, said the family was serving a 'life sentence' since her murder, but hoped the sentence would serve as a deterrent to stop violence against women and girls.
