Stephen McCullagh: YouTuber who faked GTA livestream while murdering pregnant girlfriend Natalie McNally jailed for life
Stephen McCullagh, who staged a fake YouTube gaming livestream to provide an alibi for murdering his pregnant girlfriend Natalie McNally, has been given a 31-year life sentence by a judge at Belfast Crown Court.
McCullagh made no reaction as he was told he would have to serve 31 years in prison before he would be deemed fit for release by the Parole Board for the murder, which took place in Lurgan, Co Armagh, on December 18, 2022.
There was silence in the public gallery filled with Ms McNally’s family and friends as they watched McCullagh being led out of the courtroom following a hearing at Belfast Crown Court.
When the door closed behind McCullagh, many in the public gallery turned and hugged each other.
Ordering McCullagh to stand before imposing a 31-year prison sentence, the judge, Mr Justice Kinney, said the sentence “could not possibly reflect the value of the life of Natalie or her unborn child Dean” or accommodate the family’s sense of “grief and loss”.
“Stephen McCullagh, you have committed a brutal and senseless murder,” he said.
“You planned this murder down to the smallest detail. You attacked someone you claimed to love in a frenzied attack involving extreme and unnecessary violence.
“Despite this madness, the murder was cold-blooded and calculated, as evidenced by the extensive planning leading up to the murder and your subsequent actions. Your actions towards the McNally family demonstrated your absolute determination to cover your tracks.”
During the trial, the jury heard McCullagh posted a YouTube video of himself playing a game of Grand Theft Auto on the night his partner was killed.
He had given the impression that it was a live broadcast, but Mr Justice Kinney said the YouTube livestream, which showed him playing computer games on the night he killed Natalie McNally, was an “integral” part of the plot to kill her.
McCullagh denied the murder to detectives, claiming he was livestreaming it on his YouTube channel at the time. But police experts discovered that the six-hour broadcast was actually filmed four days earlier and broadcast live on December 18.
The judge said the staged live broadcast was “carefully edited to appear as if it were being broadcast live and to provide the defendant with a complete, carefully planned alibi for the murder”.
The court also heard how McCullagh made a “concerted effort” to blame the murder of Natalie McNally on her ex-boyfriend.
Judge Kinney also highlighted that McCullagh had spent time with his family following Ms McNally’s death and that McCullagh had appeared “devastated, distraught and shocked” to the family.
“When he first came home on Christmas Day, during Natalie’s funeral, the family took him in and consoled him,” the judge said.
“They let him be alone with Natalie for long periods of time, ostensibly to feel sorry for her.”
In assessing the tariff, the judge said he assessed McCullagh’s culpability as “extremely high” and described the murder as a “brutal and frenzied attack”.
