YouTuber who faked livestream to murder pregnant girlfriend to appeal sentence

YouTuber who faked livestream to murder pregnant girlfriend to appeal sentence Stephen McCullagh, 26, was jailed for 31 years earlier this month for murdering partner Natalie McNally, 32, after creating a fake live stream to make it appear as if he was at home during the killing A YouTuber jailed for murder after he faked a livestream of himself gaming at home to cover for the murder of his pregnant girlfriend is going to appeal his prison sentence. Stephen McCullagh, 36, was jailed for 31 years earlier this month after he was found guilty of murdering 32-year-old Natalie McNally at her home on Silverwood Green in Lurgan, County Antrim. Natalie was 15 weeks pregnant at the time of her murder on December 18, 2022, Belfast Crown Court heard at his trial. Now The Public Prosecution Service in Northern Ireland has been told that an appeal against the sentence has now been lodged. McCullagh, 36, of Woodland Gardens, Lisburn, was found guilty of the murder earlier this year. He initially denied the charge but was convicted by a jury during the fifth week of his trial. During the hearing, the court was told how McCullagh created a fake livestream of himself playing Grand Theft Auto Online at the time of the murder as a “perfect alibi" for the murder of his pregnant partner. Ms McNally, 32, had been 15 weeks pregnant when she was subjected to what judge Mr Justice Kinney described as a “brutal and frenzied attack”. The judge said the staged livestream of McCullagh playing computer games on the night he killed Ms McNally was an “integral” part of his murder plan. The stream, which had been advertised as a surprise event on his social media channels, started at 6pm on December 18, opened with McCullagh wearing a Santa hat, welcoming viewers and discussing the challenges of broadcasting live, saying he did not know how long it would last. To cover his tracks, McCullagh claimed that due to “technical difficulties” he would not be able to respond to messages in the live chat and would be unable to use his phone. McCullagh also joked about drinking and driving in the game while pouring himself a Guinness, adding: "In the game by the way, I’m not leaving the house tonight." But police experts discovered the six-hour stream had actually been filmed four days before and broadcast as live on December 18 2022, the night Ms McNally was killed. The judge said the staged livestream had been “carefully curated to appear as if it was streaming live and to provide the defendant a carefully planned complete alibi to the murder”. The judge also said McCullagh had mounted a “concerted effort” to pass the blame for murdering Natalie McNally to her ex-boyfriend,. Delivering sentencing remarks at Belfast Crown Court, Trial judge Mr Justice Kinney said when considering the tariff he assessed McCullagh’s culpability as “extremely high”, describing the murder as a “brutal and frenzied attack”. Setting the tariff, the judge said it was “difficult to find words” to describe the “abhorrence” of his murder of Natalie McNally. “The defendant did not just kill Natalie McNally, her unborn child also died as a result of the murderous assault,” said the judge. Setting the minimum 31-year prison term, the judge 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”.