YouTuber ‘set up fake livestream as alibi before pregnant partner’s murder’

A man accused of killing his pregnant partner concocted a ‘live stream’ of him gaming as an alibi for her murder, a court has heard.

Natalie McNally, 32, was 15 weeks pregnant when she was attacked and died in her home in Lurgan, Co Armagh, Northern Ireland.

Stephen McCullagh, 36, of Woodland Gardens, Lisburn, has denied the murder, which took place in 2022.

He sat in the dock at Belfast Crown Court between two prison guards on this morning as the trial got underway, as family and friends of Ms McNally watched on from the public gallery.

Prosecuting barrister Charles MacCreanor KC told the court that McCullagh murdered Ms McNally and then ‘put on an act’ to cover his tracks.

This included suggesting that an ex-partner of Ms McNally’s had been responsible, telling police there was ‘blood everywhere’, and that ‘someone had knocked 10 bells out of her by the look of it’.

MacCreanor suggested that McCullagh, known on YouTube as Votesaxon07, concocted a ‘cover story’ that he had been livestreaming himself playing video games on the evening of Sunday, December 18.

The prosecution has said McCullagh pre-recorded six hours of himself playing video games, which he broadcast live that Sunday evening, all while taking a bus to Ms McNally’s home in Lurgan.

McCullagh’s distressed-sounding 999 call on the night of Monday, December 19, was also played during the first day of the trial.

‘This is a planned, calculated, premeditated murder by the defendant. One which he hoped to get away with,’ MacCreanor told the court.

‘Natalie McNally had suffered serious and multiple fatal injuries.’

The court heard her cause of death was found to have involved compression of her neck, ‘suggestive of finger tips grasping’.

She also suffered three stab wounds to her neck caused by a bladed weapon and five lacerations to the back, top and right of her head ‘in keeping with having sustained at least five heavy blows’, any of which could have killed her.

‘Natalie McNally was pregnant at the time, and Stephen McCullagh was the father of her unborn child,’ MacCreanor said.

The time of death has been estimated to be between 8.50pm and 9.30pm on Sunday, December 18, 2022.

Around 10pm on Monday, McCullagh called 999 from Ms McNally’s home and told police the last time he saw Ms McCullagh had been on Sunday afternoon – something the prosecution called ‘an act’.

The ambulance service and police were quickly at the scene, and reported finding McCullagh with Ms McNally.

‘Natalie McNally was lying at the top of the stairs … which was the living area of the home,’ he said.

‘It’s clearly apparent to paramedics that Natalie McNally is dead, everything is consistent with this being an attack upon her, the presence of blood and the visible injuries. Stephen McCullagh was described by the paramedics as performing CPR to the female, and he’s described as being quite visibly upset.’

During the 999 call, McCullagh was heard audibly upset and sobbing as he asked for emergency services to come to Ms McNally’s address in Lurgan, urging: ‘Please come as soon as you can.’

The operator talked McCullagh through how to position Ms McNally and administer CPR compressions as he waited for paramedics to arrive, encouraging him to ‘keep going’, telling him he was giving her the best chance.

The trial continues.

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