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While his pregnant girlfriend was being murdered, Stephen McCullagh appeared to be Live on YouTube for Six Hours. There was just one problem: he’d secretly recorded the entire “livestream” Four Days Before Natalie McNally was killed.
On December 18th, 2022, 32-year-old Natalie McNally was found brutally murdered inside her home in Lurgan, Northern Ireland. Natalie had been beaten, strangled and stabbed. She was 15 weeks pregnant with a baby boy her family would come to know as Dean.
Her boyfriend, Stephen McCullagh, appeared to have an almost impossible alibi.
During the exact evening Natalie was murdered, Stephen was seemingly livestreaming from his home in Lisburn — wearing a Santa hat, drinking, chatting and playing video games on YouTube for more than six hours.
Except Stephen wasn’t actually live.
Four days earlier, McCullagh had sat in front of his computer and recorded the entire six-hour gaming session. Throughout the video, he repeatedly spoke as though it were Sunday, December 18th, referenced Christmas being exactly one week away and conveniently explained that his live chat wasn’t working.
Then, on December 18th, the prerecorded footage was broadcast on YouTube as though it were happening in real time.
While “Stephen” remained visibly at home online, prosecutors said the real Stephen McCullagh disguised himself, travelled by public transport approximately 30 miles to Lurgan and approached Natalie’s home.
In one of the most chilling details of the entire case, Natalie actually logged onto YouTube that evening and watched part of Stephen’s supposed livestream — apparently seeing her boyfriend safely at home while prosecutors said he was already travelling towards her.
Less than half an hour later, a disguised man entered Natalie’s house.
Natalie would never leave it alive.
But the six-hour YouTube alibi that appeared to make Stephen McCullagh an impossible suspect contained a devastating digital trail. Investigators examining his computer discovered the “live” video had been created days before the murder — and found no user activity consistent with Stephen sitting at his computer during the supposed livestream.
Suddenly, CCTV, public transport searches, phone data, taxi evidence and Stephen’s movements began telling a very different story.
And somehow, his behaviour after Natalie’s murder became even more disturbing.
Stephen remained close to Natalie’s grieving family, was allowed private time with Natalie at her wake, attended a rally demanding justice for her murder and attempted to direct suspicion towards another man. During one visit to the McNally family home, a phone Stephen claimed he’d accidentally left behind recorded 39 minutes of their private conversation.
When detectives finally confronted him with evidence that his livestream had been prerecorded, Stephen insisted:
“That is literally impossible because you can see it on YouTube.”
Eventually, he admitted the stream wasn’t live — but claimed he’d actually been at home drunk and asleep while the prerecorded footage played.
In March 2026, after a five-week murder trial at Belfast Crown Court, a jury unanimously found Stephen McCullagh guilty of murdering Natalie McNally. He was later sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 31 years.
This is the disturbing true story of Natalie McNally and Stephen McCullagh — a shocking Northern Ireland murder case involving a pregnant woman, a fake YouTube livestream, a meticulously constructed alibi, CCTV evidence, digital forensics, a disguised journey across Northern Ireland and one of the most extraordinary prerecorded alibis ever presented in a modern true crime case.
Podcast: True Crime w/ Anna Templeton