{"id":362386,"date":"2026-03-24T10:32:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T10:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/362386\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T10:32:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T10:32:09","slug":"youtube-account-used-in-mcnally-murder-alibi-deleted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/362386\/","title":{"rendered":"YouTube account used in McNally murder alibi deleted"},"content":{"rendered":"

A YouTube account where Stephen McCullagh posted a fake livestream as a cover for the murder of his pregnant girlfriend has been deleted overnight.<\/p>\n

The account was still available yesterday when McCullagh, 36, was convicted by a unanimous verdict of the murder of Natalie McNally.<\/p>\n

She was 15 weeks pregnant with McCullagh’s child when he beat, strangled and stabbed his partner to death in her Lurgan home in December 2022.<\/p>\n

A YouTuber and gamer, he had posted a fake 6-hour livestream on his account as a cover while he travelled from Lisburn to Lurgan to commit the murder.<\/p>\n

\"Stephen
\nStephen McCullagh was convicted by a unanimous verdict of the murder of Natalie McNally<\/p>\n

The police had already ensured that the livestream video had been demonetised so that he could not earn an income from the plays of it.<\/p>\n

However, a host of other content on the site was still capable of earning him cash. He had 44,000 subscribers.<\/p>\n

Overnight, the account was terminated by YouTube. A separate account belonging to McCullagh is still accessible this morning.<\/p>\n

The prosecution had made the case that McCullagh had beaten, strangled and stabbed his former partner after discovering messages she had sent to other men.<\/p>\n

During the trial, the jury had heard how Ms McNally had been messaging other men, including a former boyfriend, during her relationship with McCullagh.<\/p>\n

\"Stephen
\nStephen McCullagh’s house at Woodland Garden’s in Lisburn<\/p>\n

The trial heard how McCullagh had pre-recorded a six-hour video of himself gaming several days before the murder.<\/p>\n

The prosecution told the jury McCullagh had then published that to his YouTube channel at 6pm on Sunday 18 December 2022, presenting it as a live event.<\/p>\n

It said he had used the window afforded by the recording to travel from Lisburn to Lurgan by bus to carry out the murder.<\/p>\n

The prosecution claimed that McCullagh had taken a taxi from Lurgan back home after the killing.<\/p>\n

It said he had been forced into that position because he had missed the last train which he had intended to take.<\/p>\n

Read more: How McCullagh’s plot to murder Natalie McNally unravelled<\/a><\/p>\n

Tracking data from the taxi company showed that the taxi had pulled up outside the house in Lisburn where McCullagh lived.<\/p>\n

The driver gave evidence that his passenger had gone into the house to get cash for the fare.<\/p>\n

McCullagh claimed it was part of an attempt by the real killer to frame him for Ms McNally’s murder.<\/p>\n

The trial had been told that McCullagh insisted a former boyfriend of Ms McNally’s had been responsible for the crime.<\/p>\n

The jury of six men and six women returned a verdict after two hours of deliberation.<\/p>\n

McCullagh made no reaction as the guilty verdict was read out.<\/p>\n

Mr Justice Kinney thanked the jury for their “diligence” in dealing with the case. He said they had had to listen some “very difficult and traumatic evidence”.<\/p>\n

Watch: Family of Natalie McNally speak outside court<\/p>\n

\n

The judge said he would sit again on a separate date to set a minimum term of imprisonment before McCullagh can be considered for release.<\/p>\n

The McNally family waited in the public gallery to watch as he passed them on the way down to the cells.<\/p>\n

Before he left the court, the judge thanked the McNally family for the “dignity” they had shown throughout the trial.<\/p>\n

Outside the court there were more emotional scenes as the lead investigating officer was hugged by family members.<\/p>\n

Declan McNally paid tribute to his sister, saying: “Having you in our lives was the greatest joy we’ll ever have.<\/p>\n

“You would have been an amazing mother to baby Dean.<\/p>\n

“We will love you forever and we hope you can now rest easy.”<\/p>\n

The family also thanked friends, family and the wider public for their support, saying without it “we would not have got through this most difficult time in our lives”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A YouTube account where Stephen McCullagh posted a fake livestream as a cover for the murder of his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":339418,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-362386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362386","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=362386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}