Overview
- Mr Justice Kinney sentenced Stephen McCullagh to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 31 years on Wednesday after a jury convicted him of murdering his partner Natalie McNally.
- The court found the attack was planned and extremely violent, with evidence of neck compression, multiple stab wounds and heavy blows to the head that killed Ms McNally and her 15-week unborn baby.
- Police digital forensics showed the six-hour YouTube broadcast McCullagh claimed was live had actually been recorded four days earlier and rebroadcast to provide a false alibi.
- Prosecutors and the judge said McCullagh then tried to shift blame to McNally’s ex-boyfriend and presented himself as distraught to the victim’s family while privately leaving misleading evidence and messages.
- The case underlined the role of digital forensics in exposing fabricated online alibis, the judge’s emphasis on planning in domestic homicides, and that release after the tariff will be a matter for the Parole Board.