![\"Stephen](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0023f177-614.jpg\"\/)
\nStephen McCullagh, from Woodland Gardens in Lisburn, denies Natalie McNally’s murder<\/p>\n
The trial of a man accused of murdering his pregnant girlfriend has been hearing from the defendant’s best friend.<\/p>\n
Natalie McNally, 32, was beaten, strangled and stabbed in her home at Silverwood Green, Lurgan in Co Armagh, on the night of 18 December 2022.<\/p>\n
She was 15 weeks pregnant.<\/p>\n
Her former boyfriend and father of her unborn child, 35-year-old Stephen McCullagh, from Woodland Gardens in Lisburn, denies her murder.<\/p>\n
Today, the trial heard from Anne McCullough, who described herself as his best friend. They had met at college while studying filmmaking.<\/p>\n
She was in regular contact with Mr McCullagh in the days before the murder.<\/p>\n
He also called her from the scene of the murder on the night he discovered Ms McNally\u2019s body.<\/p>\n
She said she had earlier gotten messages from him saying that after he had completed a six-hour gaming livestream, he believed he was in trouble with Ms McNally.<\/p>\n
He said it was because he had promised not to drink during her pregnancy, but had consumed alcohol on screen that night.<\/p>\n
She said he became more concerned as he was unable to raise her.<\/p>\n
He asked Ms McCullough to accompany him to Ms McNally\u2019s house, but she refused because she did not want to get drawn into their argument.<\/p>\n
She said on the night of 19 December, she got a call from the defendant.<\/p>\n
Ms McCullough said her friend was “howling” and “inconsolable”.<\/p>\n
“He just kept saying she\u2019s gone, Natalie is gone.<\/p>\n
“I honestly thought she had left him. I was trying to keep him calm.”<\/p>\n
She said he was so upset that her mother could hear him in the next room, even though her phone was not on speaker.<\/p>\n
\nStephen McCullagh, from Woodland Gardens in Lisburn, denies Natalie McNally’s murder<\/p>\n
Ms McCullough said a female police officer took the phone and explained that Ms McNally was dead.<\/p>\n
She asked Ms McCullough to come to the scene to try and calm Mr McCullagh.<\/p>\n
She said on her way there, she got a second call from Mr McCullagh.<\/p>\n
In this one, he was “calmer, almost zoned out” and sounded like he was disassociating from the situation.<\/p>\n
He explained that his clothes were covered in blood and that he would need to hand them over for evidential purposes.<\/p>\n
She learned from media reports the next day that her friend had been arrested on suspicion of murder.<\/p>\n
‘Prepping to become a Dad’<\/p>\n
Anne McCullough said Stephen McCullagh had “been the happiest” she had ever seen him during his relationship with Natalie McNally. <\/p>\n
She said he was excited about the pregnancy, was learning to cook and reading up on parenting. <\/p>\n
“It seemed like he was prepping to become a Dad.”<\/p>\n
She said Natalie McNally had been good for him, a strong independent woman who challenged him on occasions. <\/p>\n
She said Stephen McCullagh had spoken to her about his plans for a 6-hour gaming livestream which coincided with the night of the murder. <\/p>\n
She said at all times he had presented it to her as something that was happening live. <\/p>\n
It was only later that she found out it had been pre-recorded and played out as live on the night of the murder. <\/p>\n
“I’ve no idea why he lied to me about that,” she said. <\/p>\n
“I can’t understand why he wouldn’t have told me that he had pre-recorded it.”<\/p>\n
Ms McCullough said she had cut off contact with the defendant in the months after the murder. <\/p>\n
He said Mr McCullagh had described in detail to her the scene when he found Natalie McNally’s body. <\/p>\n
“I’ve had nightmares about it ever since.”<\/p>\n
The trial continues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The trial of a man accused of murdering his pregnant girlfriend has been hearing from the defendant’s best…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268475,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-331009","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331009","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=331009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}