YouTuber Stephen McCullagh was dubbed a "master of media manipulation" when he was denied bail after being accused of killing his pregnant girlfriend. 32-year-old Natalie McNally was murdered on December 18, 2022, when her body was found with stab wounds, compression to the neck, and blunt force wounds to the head.
Although YouTuber Stephen McCullagh seemingly had a strong alibi because he was undertaking a six-hour Grand Theft Auto livestream on the night of McNally's murder, he soon became the prime suspect and is currently awaiting his murder trial.
It's alleged that McCullagh littered his video with 'Easter eggs' hinting toward McNally's murder. This included titling the stream "Violent Night", a flash of Daniel Craig's James Bond from No Time To Die, and undertaking a specific GTA mission that resembles what happened to McNally.
When he was denied bail in September 2024, the court heard (via the BBC) how his search history in the days running up to McNally’s murder included terms like, "What’s more painful, dying by drowning or being burnt alive?", and "Is it extremely painful to die by gunshot than to stabbed in the heart?"
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Back in March 2023, McCullagh also appeared via video link, with The Independent reporting on how prosecution barrister Natalie Pinkerton maintained there was a "strong and persuasive" prima facie case against him. Pinkerton added that "the degree of planning and level of sophistication shown along with the premeditation, deceit and efforts to conceal is something that courts in this jurisdiction will rarely have seen."
The prosecution claimed that McCullagh's motive was linked to a series of 'sexualized' WhatsApp messages between McNally and an ex-boyfriend, noting that her phone was unlocked nine times on the evening of her murder. As McCullagh was known to have access to the device, he was accused of knowing about the pair being in contact.
It was also alleged that McCullagh timed McNally's murder with the point of his livestream where he took on a side mission about killing a woman and making it look like an accident.
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As Pinkerton noted: "At approximately three hours into the video, at around 9 pm, around when the neighbours heard the scream, Mr McCullagh chose to undertake this side mission. A side mission that he did not have to do.
Speaking for the defense, barrister Craig Patton said: "The livestream seems to have been the headline grabber. To carry it out as the Crown alleges, with comments made at specific times, which they suppose were the times the killer was in Ms McNally’s home, it is just absolutely unfeasible and the applicant would have had to have gone to extraordinary lengths to work out the times."
He went on to say that McCullagh pre-recorded the video due to technical issues. Still, Pinkerton concluded: "When all of this is put together, it is simply implausible that it is a coincidence. The prosecution say it is all entirely deliberate."
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The trial date had been set for May 6, 2025, but as confirmed by Mr Justice O'Hara after denying bail, there have been significant delays.