A YouTuber who staged a fake gaming livestream to cover up his pregnant girlfriend's murder has been sentenced to at least 31 years in prison. Stephen McCullagh murdered Natalie McNally in Lurgan, Co Armagh on December 18 2022. He pre-recorded himself playing Grand Theft Auto on a stream he entitled No Time To Die, using the six hours of fake gameplay footage as a cover as he travelled to his partner's home where he beat, strangled and stabbed her to death.
A YouTuber who staged a sinister fake gaming livestream to cover up his pregnant girlfriend 's murder will spend at least 31 years in prison. Stephen McCullagh murdered Natalie McNally in Lurgan, Co Armagh on December 18 2022.
He pre-recorded himself playing Grand Theft Auto on a stream he entitled No Time To Die, using the six hours of fake gameplay footage as a cover as he travelled to his partner's home where he beat, strangled and stabbed her to death. She had logged in to watch his livestream shortly before he arrived, believing him to be at home.
Ms McNally, 32, suffered three stab wounds to the neck, multiple traumatic blows to the head and injuries consistent with strangulation. She was 15 weeks pregnant with his unborn child, named Dean. McCullagh left her face down in a dog bowl. Not yet done, he sought to frame her ex-boyfriend for the murder, and even pretended to discover his girlfriend's body, making a mock-hysterical phone call to 999 when he travelled to her house in Lurgan the next day.
The killer then turned to his victim's family for comfort, attending her wake on Christmas Day at her parents' home and a public rally in her memory on January 28, where he was described as her loving partner. Police had initially ruled him out as a suspect - but at the end of January they arrested him having deduced that the livestream was a fake.
Stephen McCullagh killed his pregnant girlfriend while pretending to broadcast live on his YouTube channel, which had 37,000 subscribers. Natalie McNally, 32, was 15 weeks pregnant when she was violently attacked and killed. McCullagh had pre-recorded a Christmas-themed livestream of himself wearing a Santa hat and playing Grand Theft Auto that he sought to use as an alibi.
McCullagh, who wore a grey t-shirt and grey tracksuit bottoms as he stood in the dock, was today handed a life sentence prison tariff of 31 years by a judge in Belfast Crown Court. The fake livestream remained available to view on his YouTube channel - which had 37,000 followers - until he was found guilty of murder in March.
It was described by trial judge Mr Justice Kinney as an integral part of his plan to murder his partner, whom it emerged had slept with a former boyfriend in October 2022, two months after she had begun dating the gaming streamer. He has never given any explanation for his actions - and had even been comforted by his victim's family at her wake on Christmas Day.
In a social media post written weeks after killing Ms McNally, he wrote: I don't think I ever will fully be myself again. I've just lost too much. But I'm still here. The judge said his culpability for the attack was nevertheless extremely high, describing his attack as brutal and frenzied.
He told the murderer: 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. McCullagh gave no reaction as the sentence was handed down, and Ms McNally's loved ones watched in silence as he was led from the dock before hugging one another. Speaking outside court, Ms McNally's father Notel said he hoped the sentence would act as to deter others from committing violence against women and girls.
Over the past three and a half years, our family have been through unimaginable pain and grief from the loss of our beautiful Natalie, he said, alongside his wife Bernie. 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.
Ms McNally's parents Noel and Bernie said they hoped the sentence would serve as a deterrent against violence towards women. Stephen McCullagh is seen on a bus heading towards his girlfriend's house in Lurgan - where she was about to tune into his fake livestream believing it was real. A social media post McCullagh made advertising his livestream - another element of what prosecutors called his sinister plan to cover his tracks.
Prosecutors said they have never encountered a murder with such a level of premeditation after McCullagh recorded himself playing video games, drinking Guinness and eating crisps for six hours
Youtuber Murder Pregnant Girlfriend Fake Livestream Prison Sentence
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