YouTuber Stephen McCullagh has been sentenced to a minimum of 31 years for killing his 15-week-pregnant girlfriend, Natalie McNally, in 2022. This is among the longest jail terms ever given in Northern Ireland.
Former YouTuber Stephen McCullagh will be in prison for only 31 years after murdering Natalie McNally
In March, a Belfast Crown Court jury found the 36-year-old McCullagh guilty of murdering his 32-year-old girlfriend at her home in Lurgan on December 18, 2022, reports the BBC. The verdict came following a five-week trial.
Detective Chief Inspector Neil McGuinness, the Senior Investigating Officer, detailed the crime via the official website of the Police Service NI. He described, “McCullagh travelled to Natalie’s home in Lurgan on the night of Sunday 18 December, the week before Christmas. Here, he carried out a sustained and shockingly violent attack, which took Natalie’s life and that of her unborn son.”
“Having returned to his Lisburn home, McCullagh revisited the address some 24 hours later, whereupon, pretending to have just discovered the tragic scene, he phoned the Ambulance Service. Here, and for the weeks that followed, he masqueraded as a distraught and caring partner,” McGuinness continued.
The official further stated, “Stephen McCullagh was arrested at the scene and initially released. After a painstaking and large-scale investigation, which included hundreds of house-to-house enquiries and an examination of thousands of hours of CCTV footage, he was re-arrested and charged.” He then said, “McCullagh had devised an alibi, seemingly livestreaming for six hours on a social media platform at the time of Natalie’s murder. In reality, he had walked some distance from his home and taken a bus to Lurgan – all the while concealing his appearance – in order to carry out his attack.”
On June 3, when McCullagh appeared before Belfast Crown Court, he showed no emotion. During sentencing, Mr Justice Kinney called Natalie “a strong, loving and independent young woman,” according to The Guardian.
He discussed McCullagh’s attempt to create a fake livestream as an alibi. “This was not a spontaneous murder but a planned out one,” as per the BBC. “Domestic violence is a grave recurring phenomenon of our society,” and called the attack “brutal and frenzied.”
McNally’s father, Noel, spoke to the media following the sentence. He said, as stated by the BBC, “Today, we do not celebrate the sentence handed down, as Bernie [mother], my three boys, and myself are serving a life sentence since the murder of our beloved Natalie. But hopefully it will serve to deter and to help stop violence against women and girls in this country.”
TELL US- WHAT IS YOUR TAKE ON THIS CASE?
This story originally appeared on Realitytea
