Natalie McNally murder accused ‘lied and lied again’, jury told

The man accused of murdering Natalie McNally “lied and lied again”, a barrister has told Belfast Crown Court.

The jury in the trial of Stephen McCullagh has been told the prosecution case is “strong and compelling”.

Ms McNally, 32, was 15 weeks pregnant when she was killed at her home in Lurgan on December 18, 2022.

Her partner, Stephen McCullagh, 36, of Woodland Gardens in Lisburn, is on trial accused of murdering her.

He has denied the charge.

Delivering his closing statement in the case, prosecuting barrister Charles MacCreanor KC told the jury McCullagh had chosen not to give evidence to his trial.

He said the defendant had chosen to rely in his defence on what he had said in police interviews and in a pre-prepared statement.

The barrister said the things he had claimed could not be tested in the trial.

He said: “Our submission to you is that this is a strong prosecution case, a compelling prosecution case that he is guilty.”

Mr MacCreanor told the jury if McCullagh had an innocent explanation for his actions, they would have heard it.

He said: “You may feel is that one of the reasons you haven’t heard from him, there’s no answer that he could ever give that could stand up to scrutiny.”

The barrister turned to a “false” livestream broadcast by McCullagh of him playing Grand Theft Auto on the night Ms McNally was murdered.

He said: “That was the defendant’s false alibi, of that there can be no doubt.

“His claim that between 6pm and midnight he was going live was a complete fabrication.

“He repeatedly and to different people lied that he was doing a live show.”

The barrister said the evidence in the trial showed McCullagh had prepared the six-hour gaming broadcast four days in advance.

He said: “That period, 6pm to midnight, is the period when Natalie McNally was murdered.”

He said the jury had to decide if that was a coincidence.

The barrister added: “He set up his false alibi. He could not be the murderer, that is what that recording is about.”

Mr MacCreanor said McCullagh had been “caught out” by a police cyber crime report.

He said: “All those lies he told were then exposed.

“Why would you need a false alibi? Because he murdered Natalie McNally.”

He said: “Our case is he has lied and lied again.

“He has lied to Natalie, he has lied to his friends, he has lied to the McNally family, he has lied to police at the scene.”

The barrister said McCullagh had been at the wake for Ms McNally at her family’s home on Christmas Day, shortly after she was killed.

He said: “The family literally bring him in, they console him, they support him, they help him.

“What is he telling them? That he was doing a livestream.

“They tell you they saw him as distraught and upset and they believed it all.”

He added: “At the wake he brings that out, the lies wherever you look, they just continue.”

Mr MacCreanor said McCullagh was first confronted by police with the fact that the gaming livestream had been pre-recorded during his eighth interview.

He said McCullagh responded that this was “literally impossible” because the session was on YouTube.

The barrister said: “He tries to hold on to the false alibi and he knew at that stage that he was exposed, he was caught.”

He told the jury that McCullagh then made a pre-prepared statement to police where he said the stream had been recorded days in advance.

In the statement, he said he had been consuming alcohol on the night Ms McNally was killed and had been asleep for most of the evening.

Mr MacCreanor said: “There was an account never heard before up to that time.

“We say that is a further lie, he has to do something.”

The jury were then played some clips from the gaming session.

The barrister said it showed repeated mentions from McCullagh that it was being broadcast live and on the Sunday.

He said: “We get a repeated mention of it being live, overselling it I suggest.

“Does that seem natural to you?”

The barrister drew the jury’s attention to a clip in the gaming session where McCullagh said “abso-fucking-Natalie” several times.

Mr MacCreanor told the jury that McCullagh had looked online at Sunday timetables for trains between Lurgan and Lisburn and earlier buses between Dunmurry and Lurgan in the days before Ms McNally was killed.

He said: “It just so happens that is the bus the man with the bag gets on.”

The jury was then shown a series of CCTV clips which showed a person with a bag travelling from Lisburn to Lurgan on the evening Ms McNally was killed.

Mr MacCreanor said on that evening Ms McNally had sent McCullagh a message saying Argentina had won the World Cup final.

He said: “Just over half an hour later a figure appears close to his home and starts to walk.”

The barrister said there was “a compelling force to the CCTV”.

He said in some of the clips the person is wearing a hat and a wig.

He added: “We say he has changed his look, his disguise, his clothing as he travelled to Natalie’s home and back again.”

He said one of the disguises in which the person has a mop of black hair “bears comparison” to photographs of McCullagh on Instagram.

Mr MacCreanor said: “The person who the prosecution are identifying as the murderer adopted a look which just happened to be a look that he used.

“Is that not unbelievable for that to be a coincidence?”

The footage shows the individual with his face covered getting a bus from Dunmurry to Lurgan on the evening of December 18 2022.

Footage was then shown of the person walking through Lurgan and in the direction of Ms McNally’s house.

The barrister said the prosecution case is that the defendant changed clothes close to Silverwood Court, near where Ms McNally lived.

Further footage then shows a person leaving the area and getting into a taxi in Lurgan.

Mr McCreanor said the taxi drove to McCullagh’s house.

He said: “We say there is a sequence and there is a compulsion to this and it knits together and it ties together.

“The extensive police work came together.”

The trial continues.