YouTuber Sentenced After Faking Livestream as Alibi to Kill Girlfriend

Jun 04, 2026 - 19:18

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YouTuber Sentenced After Faking Livestream as Alibi to Kill Girlfriend

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Stephen McCullagh is staring down a lengthy prison sentence.

The 36-year-old will serve a minimum of 31 years behind bars—his sentence for the 2022 murder of his pregnant girlfriend, Natalie McNally.

McCullagh was found guilty of murdering McNally earlier this year, per the BBC, following a five-week trial. According to the outlet, McNally’s family was present for the June 3 sentencing, hugging each other as they cried.

But McCullagh almost got away with it: On Dec. 18, 2022, he appeared to have been livestreaming on YouTube for a six-hour period during which McNally—who was 15 weeks pregnant at the time of her murder—was strangled and fatally stabbed in her home in Lurgan, Northern Ireland.

And while McCullagh was arrested by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) the day after the crime, he was initially released, with YouTube confirming his stream had appeared to play out as a live broadcast and giving him a seemingly ironclad alibi. In the days and weeks following, per the BBC, he attended McNally’s wake, accused her ex-boyfriend of murdering her and even recorded conversations he had with McNally’s family in an attempt to learn about updates in the case.

"[McCullagh was] very confident of avoiding justice for this," PSNI senior investigating officer Neil McGuines said, per the BBC, “and was playing the role of the victim across his friendship group, across the McNally family and the public in Lurgan.”

Brian Lawless/PA Images via Getty Images

Soon enough, however, McCullagh’s alibi unraveled.

With the help of the organization’s cyber unit, the Police Service of Northern Irelands (PSNI) was able to examine background data of his broadcast which ultimately revealed, per the BBC, that McCullagh had actually pre-recorded the six-hour “livestream” days earlier.

Instead, during the hours he was allegedly playing Grand Theft Auto live on YouTube, CCTV footage revealed he traveled by bus from Lisburn to Lurgan in disguise, killing McNally in her home. He was rearrested on Jan. 21, 2023, and his case went to trial three years later.

During sentencing, the judge spoke to the nature of McCullagh’s crime, noting he did “not just kill Natalie McNally.”

Brian Lawless/PA Images via Getty Images

"Her unborn child also died as a result of the murderous assault,” the judge added, per the BBC. “"The defendant was fully aware that Natalie was pregnant. He intended to kill her and he knew that her baby at such an early stage of pregnancy would have no chance of surviving the attack."

Following the sentencing, McNally’s father Noel McNally addressed the gathered crowd, including reporters, with his wife Bernie McNally and their sons by his side.

"Today, we do not celebrate the sentence handed down, as Bernie, my three boys and myself are serving a life sentence since the murder of our beloved Natalie,” he said, per the BBC. “But hopefully it will serve to deter and to help stop violence against women and girls in this country.”

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