Natalie McNally's murder: Stephen McCullagh jailed for 31 years for 'cold-blooded and calculated' killing

As he imposed the tariff on 36-year old McCullagh, Mr Justice Kinney told him to stand then said: "You have committed a brutal and senseless murder.

"You planned this murder in remorseless detail. You attacked someone you professed 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 to your actions afterwards.

"Your behaviour towards the McNally family showed your absolute determination to cover your tracks."

Natalie McNally was 32 years old and was 15 weeks pregnant with their unborn son Dean when she was beaten, strangled and stabbed by McCullagh in her Lurgan home in December 2022.

As Natalie's loved ones packed into the public gallery of Belfast Crown Court, her murderer showed little emotion as the minimum term he will spend in prison before being considered eligible for release by the Parole Commissioners was imposed.

Mr Justice Kinney paid tribute to the McNally family for the integrity and dignity they have displayed throughout the judicial proceedings.

The lengths McCullagh went to in a bid to conceal his crime both before and after murdering his pregnant partner were laid out by the Crown during a five-week trial held earlier this year.

Natalie was murdered in her Silverwood Green home between 8.50pm and 9.30pm on Sunday December 18, 2022.

The law graduate and Translink worker returned home after spending the day with her family watching the Argentina versus France World Cup final.

That same evening, McCullagh - who would later falsely claim he had been live streaming from 6pm to midnight - left his his Woodland Gardens home.

With his phone left in the house and wearing dark clothing and a face mask, McCullagh boarded a bus from Dunmurry to Lurgan at 7.36pm which he paid for in cash.

After arriving in Lurgan, he walked to Natalie's home where he carried what the prosecution described as a "pre-planned, calculated, pre-meditated murder."

Natalie sustained three stab wounds to her neck, five lacerations to her head caused by blunt force trauma and was also strangled.

McCullagh then walked back into Lurgan but, having missed the last train back to Lisburn, he took a taxi which dropped him off right outside his house at 11.13pm.

Minutes after returning home, he unlocked his phone and just after midnight he sent a message to Natalie asking if she had seen any of his stream.

This, despite having left the mother of his unborn son lying dead and face-down in her dog River's bowl.

He continued to message Natalie throughout Monday, December 19, 2022 and even enlisted the help of his friend Anne McCullough, telling her he couldn't get hold of Natalie and was worried about her.

McCullagh tried to pursue Anne to come with him to Natalie's home on the Monday evening, expressing concerns that she was diabetic and may have taken a hypo.

Anne declined the offer, so instead McCullagh drove to Lurgan and at 9.59pm he called 999, hysterically telling the operator "she's cold" and "there's blood everywhere".

He was told to perform CPR and upon the arrival of the emergency services, McCullagh was spoken to by the PSNI and arrested on suspicion of murder - but immediately pointed the finger of blame at Natalie's ex-boyfriend Lewis Jones.

Following his arrest, McCullagh provided the police with an alibi and said that on the evening of the murder, he had been live-streaming.

This so-called live stream - entitled The Violent Night Christmas Live Gaming Stream - appeared on his YouTube channel under his username VoteSaxon07 between 6pm and midnight on Sunday, December 18, 2022.

In the stream, McCullagh played Grand Theft Auto Vice City and Robot Wars on his Xbox and referred to it as 'Xbox gamey goodness.'

Drinking Guinness and Baileys and smoking a vape, McCullagh talked throughout the stream and at one point said “I've just realised I'm a very angry drunk but in real life I'm an absolute sweetheart.”

Due to his alibi, he was released from police custody on December 20, 2022 and four days later was de-suspected.

Also arrested was Natalie's ex-boyfriend and as he also had an alibi, Mr Jones was released from custody.

Following a detailed forensic examination of McCullagh's computer, experts from the PSNI's cyber crime team determined that this six-hour stream was not in fact live at all but had been recorded some days before.

The cyber team were also able to prove that between the hours of the so-called live stream, there had been no user activity on the computer.

This led to McCullagh's re-arrest on January 31, 2023 and in the 44 days in between, he continued to peddle his lies to his friends and to the McNally family.

He attended her wake in the family home on Christmas evening where he was treated with kindness and even spend time alone with her coffin.

The murderer also attended a rally in Lurgan Park in her honour on January 28, 2023 when a video was played and the crowd was told it was put together by her 'loving partner.'

McCullagh also covertly recorded the McNally family on his phone two days before the rally.

In addition, he told her grieving family how he had found her lying face-bowl in a dog bowl filled with blood.

When she gave evidence at the trial, Natalie's mother Bernie told the jury: "He started to tell me how he found Natalie in the house.

"He said she looked like she got a quare doing and he would like to get his hands on them, that sort of thing.

"He said her face was in the dog bowl and it was full of blood. That stuck in my head."

During the trial, McCullagh declined to give evidence and did therefore not spend any time in the witness box.

This was in stark contrast to Lewis Jones, who spend three days being cross-examined by McCullagh's barrister.

At one point during a heated exchange, when it was put to Mr Jones that McCullagh believed he had murdered Natalie, Mr Jones denied this, said "he done it" then glaring at McCullagh as he sat in the dock he shouted "you done it ... you killed her."

On Monday, March 23 of this year the jury of six men and six women found McCullagh unanimously guilty of murdering Natalie McNally.

It took the 12 members just over two hours to reach the verdict and following this, McCullagh was handed a Life Sentence by Mr Justice Kinney.

He was back in the dock of Belfast Crown Court today where the minimum 31-year tariff was imposed.

There was complete silence in the packed court as McCullagh was then handcuffed and led from the dock back into custody by prison staff.