Who Is Stephen McCullagh? The Killer Who Used a Fake Livestream as a Murder Alibi

The quiet community of Lurgan, Northern Ireland was rocked in December 2022 when Natalie McNally was found dead in her home. While a popular YouTuber appeared to have a rock-solid alibi through a live gaming broadcast, detectives soon began to unpick a sophisticated digital deception.

Stephen McCullagh, 36, was convicted of murdering 32-year-old Natalie McNally, who was 15 weeks pregnant with his baby when she was killed in December 2022. She suffered a brutal attack involving stabbing, strangulation, and physical assault inside her own residence.

As legal proceedings began in early 2023, prosecutors argued that McCullagh had intentionally built a complex web of lies to escape the consequences of his actions.

A Digital Persona Built on Deception and Gaming

Before his true nature was exposed, Stephen McCullagh had built a significant online presence, attracting tens of thousands of subscribers to his YouTube channel. He was a familiar face in the gaming community, often seen by his audience drinking and vaping as he provided live commentary on titles like Robot Wars and Grand Theft Auto. For his followers, he was simply an engaging streamer who shared his gaming sessions with the world.

On 18 December 2022, Stephen McCullagh scheduled a broadcast he called 'Violent Night', promising his followers a live gaming session starting at 6 p.m. He preemptively warned his audience that a technical glitch would prevent him from replying to their messages or interacting in real-time. In reality, the entire performance was a fabrication, as the footage playing for his subscribers was anything but live.

A digital forensic expert informed the court that the six-hour gaming broadcast was actually filmed four days before it aired. The evidence showed the recording was cut off just after midnight on 19 December and then wiped from the system entirely. While the footage played for his unsuspecting viewers, McCullagh was in the middle of killing Natalie McNally.

The Final Moments of Natalie McNally

On 18 December, 32-year-old Natalie McNally—who was 15 weeks pregnant—spent her evening with her parents watching the World Cup final. Shortly before his broadcast was scheduled to start, she and McCullagh were in contact via message. In her final exchanges, she mentioned to him that she would try to catch a glimpse of his stream once it began.

By the time the messages were sent, McCullagh was already in transit. He set off on foot from his Lisburn home, walking two miles to Dunmurry before boarding a bus to Lurgan, which sat 20 miles away. Dressed in dark clothing and gloves with his face obscured, he carried a green shopping bag to blend in with his surroundings. The court heard he had prepared for the journey by searching for local bus and train schedules in advance.

Upon arriving, he covered a further mile and a half on foot to reach Natalie McNally's residence at Silverwood Green. According to police, she was killed within a narrow window between 8:50 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. During the attack, she was stabbed and strangled, sustaining at least five heavy blows to her head.

CCTV cameras tracked a significant portion of McCullagh's journey home, catching him after he had changed into a different outfit. In court, prosecutors compared his social media photos to the security footage, pointing out a black hat and wig he owned that matched the appearance of a man seen walking through the centre of Lurgan.

When he found himself unable to secure a bus or train for the return trip, he approached a waiting taxi and persuaded the driver that he was the customer who had placed the booking. This allowed him to be driven straight back to his house in Lisburn.

A Virtual Mask for a Reality of Violence

The cornerstone of McCullagh's defence rested entirely on his pre-recorded broadcast, segments of which were later screened for the jury. At the exact time investigators believe Natalie McNally was being attacked, the footage showed McCullagh playing a specific Grand Theft Auto mission centred on the killing of a woman.

As the digital character carried out the task, he was heard singing a line about needing to 'take her down'. Roughly 10 minutes later, he uttered the phrase, 'Abso-fucking not-ally, abso-fucking Natalie.' This was the only moment throughout the entire hours-long recording where he mentioned her by name.

In the aftermath, McCullagh began sending messages to both Natalie McNally's phone and a friend to bolster his story. He suggested she might be upset with him for drinking while she was pregnant or that her diabetes was causing her health issues, while also maintaining his online presence by posting a review of a Star Wars Lightsaber toy.

By the following evening, he had travelled to Lurgan under the guise of checking on her after nearly a day of silence. Upon entering the house, he made a 10-minute 999 call, weeping as he told operators 'she's gone' and describing the scene as being covered in blood. Despite his attempt at performing CPR, prosecutors argued that the entire display was nothing more than a staged act.

A Fragmented Picture of a Calculated Act

Because McCullagh never took the stand and denied the charges throughout, his exact reasoning remains a mystery. However, the trial heard that in the period before she died, Natalie McNally had been in contact with other men, with some of the exchanges being sexually explicit. One witness testified that just a week before the tragedy, she had expressed her intention to end her relationship with McCullagh once the new year arrived.

Evidence suggested that McCullagh had gained access to her phone and seen these private messages. This mirrored a previous incident where he was arrested for assaulting a former partner after looking through her device. While jealousy may have played a part, prosecutors argued that it didn't fully account for the sheer scale of the plot he executed—a 'cold and calculating house of cards' that eventually collapsed under the weight of the investigation.