YouTuber who faked GTA livestream while murdering pregnant girlfriend jailed for 31 years

A YouTuber will spend a minimum of 31 years behind bars after being sentenced at Belfast Crown Court for killing his pregnant girlfriend.

Stephen McCullagh, 36, from Lisburn, showed no emotion as Mr Justice Kinney delivered the life sentence tariff.

Natalie McNally, aged 32 and expecting a child at 15 weeks, was killed in what the judge described as a "brutal and frenzied attack" at her Lurgan home in County Armagh during December 2022.

A jury had previously convicted McCullagh of murder earlier this year.

The court heard how McCullagh had devised an elaborate scheme to establish an alibi for the night of the killing.

He claimed to detectives that he had been streaming video games on his YouTube channel when Ms McNally died.

However, investigators discovered the six-hour broadcast was not live at all.

It had instead been recorded four days prior and was set to play on December 18 as though it was happening in real time.

Mr Justice Kinney stated this fake stream was "integral" to McCullagh's murder plan, having been "carefully curated" to provide him with a complete alibi.

Following the murder, McCullagh made a "concerted effort" to shift suspicion onto Ms McNally's former partner, according to the judge.

He also spent time with the victim's relatives as they mourned her death, presenting himself as "devastated, distraught and shocked" by what had happened.

When the sentence was announced, silence fell across the public gallery where Ms McNally's loved ones had gathered.

As McCullagh was escorted from the dock, family members and friends embraced one another.

The judge said: "When he first arrived at the house on Christmas Day, during Natalie’s wake, the family brought him in and comforted him.

"They allowed him to spend extensive time alone with Natalie, ostensibly to grieve for her."

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The judge said that when considering the tariff, he assessed McCullagh’s culpability as "extremely high".

He said it was "difficult to find words" to describe the "abhorrence" of his murder of Ms McNally.

The judge said: "The defendant did not just kill Natalie McNally, her unborn child also died as a result of the murderous assault.

"The defendant was fully aware that Natalie was pregnant. He intended to kill her and he knew that her baby, at such an early stage of the pregnancy, would have no chance of surviving the attack.”

The judge said he was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Ms McNally’s face had been put in a dog bowl after the attack.

He said: “I do not accept that this aspect of her murder was anything other than intentional and was part of her punishment and humiliation."

The judge noted that in his engagement with probation services McCullagh referred to himself as a “monster”.

Ordering McCullagh to stand before he set the 31-year prison term, Justice Kinney said the sentence passed “cannot possibly reflect the value of Natalie’s life, or indeed that of her unborn child, Dean" or meet the family’s sense of "grief and loss".

He said: "Stephen McCullagh, you have committed a brutal and senseless murder. You planned this murder in remorseless detail. You attacked someone you profess to love in a frenzied assault, which was characterised by its excessive and gratuitous violence.

"Despite that frenzy, the killing was cold-blooded and calculated, as evidenced by the extensive planning leading up to the murder and your actions afterwards. Your behaviour towards the McNally family showed your absolute determination to cover your tracks."

Speaking outside court, Ms McNally’s father, Noel, said his family were "serving a life sentence” with the loss of "our beloved Natalie”.

He said: “Over the past three and a half years, our family have been through unimaginable pain and grief from the loss of our beautiful Natalie.

“We would just like to thank everyone who has helped us get to here today - all our family and friends, the whole community of Lurgan, Craigavon and throughout this country and beyond for all the kindness and support we have received. We would also like to thank the PSNI and the prosecution service for getting us to the conclusion here today.

"Today is not a celebration of the sentence handed down, as Bernadette, my boys and myself are serving a life sentence since the murder of our beloved Natalie, but hopefully it will serve as a deterrent to help stop violence against women and girls in this country."

He added: “With respect, we are now asking for some privacy as we continue to grieve."

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