{"id":302197,"date":"2026-02-17T08:11:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T08:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/302197\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T08:11:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T08:11:11","slug":"jury-sworn-in-for-trial-of-youtuber-accused-of-natalie-mcnallys-murder-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/302197\/","title":{"rendered":"Jury sworn in for trial of YouTuber accused of Natalie McNally\u2019s murder \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A jury has been sworn in at Belfast<\/a> Crown Court in the trial of a man accused of murdering Natalie McNally<\/a> in Co Armagh<\/a> four years ago.<\/p>\n

Stephen McCullagh (35), from Woodland Gardens in Lisburn, Co Antrim<\/a>, has denied her murder.<\/p>\n

Natalie McNally (32) was stabbed at her home in Silverwood Green, Lurgan, on the night of December 18th, 2022, when she was 15 weeks pregnant.<\/p>\n

She sustained severe head and neck injuries. Her body was not discovered until the following day.<\/p>\n

Members of the McNally family, friends and supporters filled the public gallery of the city centre court on Monday.<\/p>\n

McCullagh appeared in the dock flanked by two prison officers.<\/p>\n

Before their selection, potential jurors were asked by Judge Patrick Kinney to look at the defendant to ascertain if they knew him.<\/p>\n

They were asked if they believed they had any connection with the case that could potentially interfere with their ability to hear the evidence objectively.<\/p>\n

The trial was scheduled to begin in November but was delayed due to the emergence of new evidence.<\/p>\n

On Monday, the jury of six men and six women were told that Natalie McNally studied law at Queen\u2019s University and worked for Translink.<\/p>\n

The man accused of her murder worked part-time in the Belfast Telegraph.<\/p>\n

Kinney said McCullagh was known as a YouTuber who broadcast under the profile \u201cVoteSaxon\u201d, and was primarily known for reviewing Doctor Who products and merchandise.<\/p>\n

The judge warned jurors they must not be influenced by any material outside the trial process, given the high-profile nature of the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cInformation from outside sources can lack accuracy … and could well mislead you, and therefore all of the jury in your deliberations,\u201d Kinney said.<\/p>\n

It was \u201cvital\u201d they followed his instructions carefully, he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t, that\u2019s going to cost in terms of resources, delay and anxiety for all those involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

The trial is expected to last five weeks. It is taking place during strike action by criminal barristers in Northern Ireland in a long-running dispute over payments for legal aid work.<\/p>\n

The action has effectively paused Crown Court cases involving those requiring legal aid support.<\/p>\n

Concerns were previously raised by the McNally family about the impact of the strike on the trial getting under way.<\/p>\n

However, the Criminal Bar Association agreed to exempt the case from the industrial action.<\/p>\n

Kinney expressed his gratitude at the barristers making the case an exemption from their strike during a preliminary hearing in January.<\/p>\n

The first evidence in the trial is expected to be heard on Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A jury has been sworn in at Belfast Crown Court in the trial of a man accused of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302198,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[80306,48512,4501,42,142909,43,2443,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-302197","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-antrim","9":"tag-armagh","10":"tag-belfast","11":"tag-headlines","12":"tag-natalie-mcnally","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-northern-ireland","15":"tag-top-news","16":"tag-top-stories","17":"tag-topnews","18":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}