A YouTuber who murdered his pregnant partner while staging a prerecorded livestream as an alibi has been sentenced to 31 years in prison. Stephen McCullagh, 36, showed no emotion as he was sentenced at Belfast Crown Court for the “cold-blooded and calculated” killing of Natalie McNally in December 2022.
The judge, Mr Justice Kinney, described the attack as “frenzied” and noted that McCullagh had planned the murder in “remorseless detail”. While the attack unfolded, a prerecorded session of McCullagh playing Grand Theft Auto ran on his YouTube channel to give the impression he was at his home in Lisburn, 17 miles away.
McCullagh stabbed, strangled and bludgeoned the 32-year-old at her home in Lurgan. After the murder, he presented himself as grief-stricken and was welcomed at McNally’s wake. Police initially released him after learning of the supposed livestream, but later established it was prerecorded and arrested him. He was convicted in March after a trial that heard he wore a disguise and gloves.
The judge said McCullagh intended to kill both McNally and their unborn child, and that he placed her face in a dog bowl to humiliate her. Outside court, McNally’s father Noel spoke of the family’s “unimaginable pain” and said the sentence would hopefully deter violence against women and girls.
