A man who falsely claimed he was livestreaming a video game session when his pregnant partner was killed has been jailed today. Natalie McNally, 32, was 15 weeks pregnant when she was violently attacked and killed at her home in Lurgan on December 18, 2022.

Stephen McCullagh, 36, of Woodland Gardens, Lisburn, was convicted in March by a jury during the fifth week of the trial at Belfast Crown Court. During the trial, the prosecution has said that McCullagh murdered Ms McNally after setting up a “false alibi” that he was livestreaming a video gaming session on YouTube.

While he had originally claimed the gaming session had been broadcast live on December 18, the night Ms McNally was killed, police experts discovered the six-hour stream had actually been filmed four days before and broadcast as live that night.

During the sentencing hearing on June 3, Judge Mr Justice Kinney said the staged live stream 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”.

Delivering the sentencing remarks at Belfast Crown Court, the judge also highlighted that McCullagh spent time with Ms McNally’s family in the aftermath of her death.

The judge said McCullagh presented to the family as “devastated, distraught and shocked”.

“When he first arrived at the house on Christmas Day, during Natalie’s wake, the family brought him in and comforted him,” said the judge.

“They allowed him to spend extensive time alone with Natalie, ostensibly to grieve for her.”

The judge said when considering the tariff he assessed McCullagh’s culpability as “extremely high”, describing the murder as a “brutal and frenzied attack”.

During the trial, the prosecution said McCullagh had then travelled to Lurgan on the December 18 evening, killed Ms McNally and then travelled home in a taxi to his house in Lisburn.

McCullagh had met Ms McNally in August 2022 and she was pregnant with his baby by November.

Ms McNally died following a violent attack in her home, suffering stab wounds and blows to her head.