Natalie McNally

Case background and investigation

Natalie McNally, 32, lived at Silverwood Green in Lurgan, County Armagh. According to Wikipedia's account of the case, she had met Stephen McCullagh in August 2022 and told her family in November that she was pregnant with his child. On December 18, 2022, she watched the World Cup final with her parents in Craigavon and then returned home. Police found her body the following night; a post-mortem found stab wounds and severe beating injuries. She was 15 weeks pregnant.

McCullagh, of Woodland Gardens in Lisburn, was questioned early in the investigation but was initially ruled out because he appeared to have been broadcasting a six-hour gaming session live on his YouTube channel at the time. The Police Service of Northern Ireland released CCTV of a man with a rucksack entering and leaving her estate that evening. Police re-arrested McCullagh, and on February 2, 2023, he was charged with murder. RTE reported that police experts established the stream had been recorded four days earlier and broadcast as though it were live.

McCullagh pleaded not guilty in January 2024. His trial opened before Mr Justice Patrick Kinney at Belfast Crown Court in February 2026. According to the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland, the jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict on March 23, 2026. Prosecutors said he planned the killing in advance, including creating the false alibi, and tried to shift suspicion onto another person.

On June 3, 2026, McCullagh, then 36, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 31 years. RTE reported that the judge called the attack brutal and frenzied yet calculated, and noted that McNally's unborn child, whom the family named Dean, also died. The PPS paid tribute to her parents and brothers, who attended every hearing.

RTE reported on June 30, 2026, that McCullagh had lodged an appeal against his sentence. The murder conviction itself stands.