A YouTuber who staged a livestream of him gaming to cover up the brutal murder of his girlfriend is living in terror in a tough Irish prison. Stephen McCullagh was jailed for 31 years this week for the murder of his former partner Natalie McNally.
The 32-year-old victim was 15 weeks pregnant with McCullagh’s child when he attacked and murdered at her home in Lurgan in December 2022. McCullagh, 36, was found guilty of the murder of McNally by a jury at Belfast Crown Court earlier this year.
The cowardly killer previously denied murder, claiming that he had been live-streaming himself playing computer games on his YouTube channel at the time. But he has reportedly found himself at the bottom of the prison pecking order, cowering in the hospital wing of the notorious Maghaberry jail for his own safety.
View 4 Images(Image: Handout)
Remembered as “arrogant” by those unlucky enough to encounter him, murder McCullagh’s warped sense of self-importance knew no bounds. The Mirror reports that McCullagh has become a walking target inside.
He showed no reaction as the sentence was handed down this week, and there was silence in the public gallery where Natalie’s family watched. Mr Justice Kinney called Stephen “abhorent” and said it was “difficult to find words” for the brutality of the murder.
“The defendant did not just kill Natalie McNally, her unborn child also died as a result of the murderous assault,” the judge said. “The defendant was fully aware that Natalie was pregnant.
“He intended to kill her and he knew that her baby, at such an early stage of the pregnancy, would have no chance of surviving the attack. Stephen McCullagh, you have committed a brutal and senseless murder.
“You 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.
“Despite 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.”
View 4 ImagesMcCullagh brutally stabbed and throttled Natalie, before leaving her bloodied and face down in a dog bowl. He then had the audacity to attend her tragic Christmas Day wake, eliciting sympathy from her caring family members, while attempting to pin the blame on an “abusive ex-boyfriend”.
In reality, it was an act of vicious revenge. The court heard how Ms McNally had expressed doubts about the relationship to several friends and was still in touch with an ex-boyfriend. Their messages, it was suggested, were the ‘catalyst’ for McCullagh’s violent murder plot.
While McCullagh had thought himself clever enough to outwit the police, officers soon unravelled his lies. But even as he stood in the dock, the self-proclaimed ‘nerd’ couldn’t help but smile at his own jokes as the court saw pre-recorded footage he’d used as a fraudulent livestream on the night of Natalie’s murder, grotesquely entitled Violent Night.
View 4 ImagesSources at the high-security Maghaberry Prison say the beast has a “target on his back”, with his fellow inmates said to be repulsed that he killed Natalie while she was pregnant, making him a child killer. A source told Sunday Life: “That’s one thing the prisoners don’t like – harming innocent children.
“Some of the worst attacks there have been in here (Maghaberry) have been on child killers and child abusers. And you have to understand, the human side means staff aren’t going to put their own safety at risk to intervene for the likes of them.
“Because McCullagh murdered a pregnant woman, he falls into that category.”
While it’s understood McCullagh behaves behind bars, he is said to be a “security nightmare”, topping the “hitlist” of dangerous criminals the killer content creator now calls neighbours. Another source revealed: “He is being held on the Moyola hospital wing for his own protection.
“It’s separated from all other residential units and holds around 19 older, disabled, and high-profile inmates. The other prisoners joke that it’s for the ‘squealers and feelers’, which is a reference to touts and paedophiles, and they aren’t far wrong. In reality, it’s segregation without any punishment.”
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