How content creator killer hoped a YouTube alibi would help him avoid justice

From the first court appearance in early 2023, authorities signaled that Stephen McCullagh, 36, had murdered Natalie McNally and had crafted an elaborate alibi around a six-hour YouTube gaming live stream titled Violent Night.

“- Published Cold-blooded, brutal and outlandish - if the plan Stephen McCullagh set in motion to kill his pregnant partner was the plot of one of his video games, it may have been dismissed as being too far-fetched”

BBC

The stream showed him playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Robot Wars while drinking and commenting, but was not interactive as promised because of supposed technical problems.

BBC

A digital forensic analyst testified that the six-hour stream had been recorded four days earlier, stopped at 00:05 on 19 December, and then deleted.

Prosecutors said the pre-recorded file formed the basis of his alleged alibi, with McCullagh later texting Natalie's phone and a friend to bolster it, attending her wake and grave, and even leaving his phone to record private conversations in the McNally family home.

He initially believed he had been dismissed as a suspect, but a five-week trial would later reveal his lies to a jury.

On 18 December 2022, about 16:00 GMT, Natalie McNally was at her parents' home watching the World Cup final and having Sunday dinner when she and McCullagh exchanged messages before he posted that he would stream the night away from 18:00.

He later travelled: he walked about two miles from his home in Lisburn to Dunmurry, caught a bus to Lurgan, and arrived at Natalie's home at Silverwood Green, where prosecutors say she was stabbed, strangled, and subjected to at least five heavy blows to the head between 20:50 and 21:30.

BBC

CCTV captured his return journey; he changed his clothes, then attempted to catch a taxi to Lisburn—right to his front gate.

He returned home, stopped the stream, and deleted the pre-recorded file.

He texted Natalie's phone and his friend Anne to embed his alibi, attended her wake and grave, and even left his phone in the McNally family home to record private conversations, later claiming the recording was due to a glitch while prosecutors argued it was part of a calculated plan.

During the stream, he sang I need to kill this bitch, I need to take her down, and minutes later said Abso-fucking not-ally, abso-fucking Natalie.

Three years after being charged, a five-week trial exposed his lies to a jury.

“- Published Cold-blooded, brutal and outlandish - if the plan Stephen McCullagh set in motion to kill his pregnant partner was the plot of one of his video games, it may have been dismissed as being too far-fetched”

BBC

The court heard that in the months before Natalie's death she had messaged other men and that McCullagh had accessed her phone and read those messages.

He denied the murder, offered no explanation for the pre-recorded live stream, and did not testify.

The trial showed him orchestrating a meticulously planned crime rather than a crime of passion, including his alibi-building actions—texts to Natalie's phone, surveillance of conversations, keeping his phone to record private conversations—and his public grieving process, with prosecutors highlighting the recording of a private counselling session and other deceptive actions.