{"id":480889,"date":"2026-06-03T12:11:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T12:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/480889\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T12:11:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T12:11:09","slug":"stephen-mccullagh-ordered-to-serve-31-years-for-murder-of-natalie-mcnally-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/480889\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephen McCullagh ordered to serve 31 years for murder of Natalie McNally \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The man found guilty of murdering his pregnant partner, Natalie McNally<\/a>, will serve a 31-year-prison sentence before he can be considered for release, Belfast Crown Court has heard.<\/p>\n

Standing in the dock of Laganside Courthouse on Wednesday morning, Stephen McCullagh was told by Judge Patrick Kinney he had committed a \u201cbrutal and senseless murder\u201d of \u201csomeone you professed to love\u201d.<\/p>\n

The murder of the Co Armagh woman in her Lurgan home was \u201ccold-blooded and calculated\u201d and McCullagh showed a \u201cdetermination\u201d to cover his tracks, the judge said. <\/p>\n

Natalie McNally\u2019s mother wept holding her daughter\u2019s photograph in the packed public gallery behind the dock as the sentence was handed down.<\/p>\n

McCullagh, wearing a grey T-shirt and grey track suit bottoms, showed no emotion as the judge told him to stand.<\/p>\n

Natalie McNally (32) had been 15 weeks pregnant with McCullagh\u2019s son when she was murdered in December 2022.<\/p>\n

McCullagh denied the murder but was convicted in a unanimous verdict following a five-week trial earlier this year.<\/a><\/p>\n

[\u00a0How YouTuber Stephen McCullagh tried to get away with the murder of his pregnant partner Natalie McNallyOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

He had staged a YouTube live stream of him playing computer games on the night of the murder, which was an \u201cintegral\u201d part of his plan of murder her, the judge said.<\/p>\n

The judge said the staged live stream had been \u201ccarefully curated to appear as if it was streaming live and to provide the defendant a carefully-planned complete alibi to the murder\u201d.<\/p>\n

Kinney said the sentence passed \u201ccannot possibly reflect the value of Natalie\u2019s life, or indeed that of her unborn child, Dean\u201d or meet the family\u2019s sense of \u201cgrief and loss\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"NatalieNatalie McNally had been 15 weeks pregnant when she was subjected to a violent attack and murdered at her home in Lurgan, Co Armagh. <\/p>\n

He told McCullagh: \u201cYou planned this murder in remorseless detail. You attacked someone you profess to love in a frenzied assault, which was characterised by its excessive and gratuitous violence.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite that frenzy, the killing was cold-blooded and calculated, as evidenced by the extensive planning leading up to the murder and your actions afterwards. Your behaviour towards the McNally family showed your absolute determination to cover your tracks.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the door closed behind McCullagh, many in the public gallery turned and hugged each other.<\/p>\n

A sentencing hearing in May was told that McCullagh made \u201cself-contradictory\u201d and \u201cincredible\u201d statements to his probation officer, first insisting he \u201cwas convinced that he was not guilty of the murder\u201d.<\/p>\n

The probation officer further noted McCullagh described the murder as \u201cevil\u201d and \u201cvicious\u201d, and referred to himself as \u201ca monster\u201d, the court heard.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0How YouTuber Stephen McCullagh tried to get away with the murder of Natalie McNallyOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

He also said: \u201cI\u2019m sorry for what I did to that poor family, what I did to Natalie.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cI would take it back if I could.\u201d<\/p>\n

Natalie McNally\u2019s father Noel said his family has been through \u201cunimaginable pain and grief over the loss of our beautiful daughter Natalie\u201d over the last three-and-a-half years.<\/p>\n

Speaking outside court, he told media: \u201cWe would like to thank everyone who has helped us to get here today, all our family and friends, the whole community of Lurgan and Craigavon, and throughout this country and beyond for all the kindness and the support that we have received.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would also like to thank the PSNI and the prosecution service for getting us to this conclusion today.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday we do not celebrate the sentence handed down as Bernadette, my three boys and myself are serving a life sentence since the murder of our beloved Natalie, but hopefully it will serve to deter and to help stop violence against women and girls in this country.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith respect, we are now asking for some privacy to continue to grieve.\u201d – Additional reporting: PA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The man found guilty of murdering his pregnant partner, Natalie McNally, will serve a 31-year-prison sentence before he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":480890,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[80306,48512,42,142909,43,2443,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-480889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-antrim","tag-armagh","tag-headlines","tag-natalie-mcnally","tag-news","tag-northern-ireland","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480889","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=480889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480889\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}