A YouTuber accused of stabbing his pregnant girlfriend to death 'put on an act' to cover his tracks - including a fake live stream, a court was told.
Natalie McNally, 32, was 15 weeks pregnant when she was killed in her home in Lurgan, Northern Ireland, a week before Christmas in 2022.
Stephen McCullagh, 36, from Woodland Gardens, Lisburn, has denied her murder, but the court was told he 'put on an act' to cover his tracks.
The court heard this included a tearful 999 call to police, faking a six-hour video game live stream and suggesting that an ex-partner of Ms McNally's had been responsible, telling police 'someone had knocked 10 bells out of her'.
As the trial at Belfast Crown Court got underway on Monday morning, McCullagh sat in the dock while Ms McNally's loved ones watched on from the public gallery.
Setting out the case against McCullagh on Monday morning, prosecuting barrister Charles MacCreanor KC described a murder that was 'planned, calculated and premeditated, one which he (McCullagh) hoped to get away with'.
He described how in the days after the murder, McCullagh had left his phone at Ms McNally's family home while it was recording, telling the jury it is up to them to decide whether that had been deliberate.
Ms McNally's cause of death was found to have involved compression of her neck, 'suggestive of finger tips grasping', Mr MacCreanor said.
YouTuber Stephen McCullagh, 36, of Woodland Gardens, Lisburn, has denied the murder of Natalie McNally, but, court was told he 'put on an act' to cover his tracks
Natalie McNally, 32, was 15 weeks' pregnant when she was killed in her home in Lurgan a week before Christmas in 2022
She also suffered three stab wounds to her neck caused by a bladed weapon and five lacerations to the back, top and right of her head 'in keeping with having sustained at least five heavy blows'.
Mr MacCreanor said any of these could have caused death alone.
He continued: 'Natalie McNally was pregnant at the time and Stephen McCullagh was the father of her unborn child.'
Her time of death has been estimated to be between 8.50pm and 9.30pm on Sunday December 18, 2022.
Mr MacCreanor said McCullagh, known on YouTube as Votesaxon07, concocted a 'cover story' that he had been livestreaming himself playing video games on the evening of Sunday December 18.
Prosecution argue that McCullagh had pre-recorded six hours of himself playing video games which he broadcast as live that Sunday evening and took a bus to Ms McNally's home in Lurgan and murdered her.
CCTV footage and clips from inside the bus were played. They showed a man wearing a beanie-style hat with a 'mop of black hair' underneath and his face mostly covered.
The man is seen getting on a bus in Dunmurray and getting off in Lurgan before walking towards Ms McNally's house.
The prosecution claims he may have changed his clothes and got a taxi back to his home in Lisburn, with footage also shown of a taxi, and a figure getting into it and being left in the 'area just outside McCullagh's house in Lisburn' around 11pm.
An examination of McCullagh's devices by police showed he had searched for bus times to Lurgan and that he had unlocked his phone a few minutes after the taxi moved off.
Mr MacCreanor suggested the 'mop of black hair' bore a comparison with a wig which McCullagh had posted a picture of himself wearing as part of a dress-up costume on Instagram previously.
Put to McCullagh during police interview, the court heard he responded saying: 'It seems that the suspect did take a taxi to my house, I have no idea who this person was, but I think that is it obvious that the true killer of Natalie has left a clear circumstantial trail to link me to the murder.
Noel and Bernie McNally, parents of Natalie McNally, outside Belfast Crown Court today ahead of a trial for Stephen McCullagh
Natalie McNally's brother Brendan (second left) and family members outside Belfast High Court
'I have no idea where they went after they entered my property, but they could easily have jumped the fence and made their way without being seen.'
McCullagh's distressed-sounding 999 call on the night of Monday December 19 was also played during the first day of the trial.
The court heard he told police the last time he saw Ms McNally had been on Sunday afternoon.
'On the prosecution case, this call is false, it's an act, it's put on by him, part of his plan to do the murder and get away with it,' Mr MacCreanor KC said.
The ambulance service and police were quickly at the scene and reported finding McCullagh with Ms McNally, he said.
He said: 'Natalie McNally is lying at the top of the stairs... which was the living area of the home.
'It's clearly apparent to paramedics that Natalie McNally is dead, everything is consistent with this being an attack upon her, presence of blood and the visible injuries.
'Stephen McCullagh is described by the paramedics as performing CPR to the female and he's described as being quite visibly upset.'
He said police described McCullagh as being 'distraught and overcome'.
'Again, we say this is all part of an act, a front,' he said.
During the 999 call, McCullagh is heard audibly upset and sobbing as he asked for emergency services to come to Ms McNally's address in Lurgan, urging: 'Please come as soon as you can.'
The operator talks McCullagh through how to position Ms McNally and administer CPR compressions as he waited for paramedics to arrive, encouraging him to 'keep going', telling him he was giving her the best chance.
Paramedic Graham Thompson, who said he had been the first into Ms McNally's house after the 999 call, was the first witness to give evidence.
He said he saw a very pale female lying on the floor at the top of the stairs and 'a lot of blood had been lost', adding her hands and lips were purple/blue.
He also said a 'visibly upset' gentleman was on his knees performing CPR and had had to tell him to stop, and there was no hope of resuscitation at that stage.
Constable Archibald described arriving at the house to find the front door open and noticing 'quite a strong foul smell'.
She said she took a visibly distraught and crying McCullagh to the police car to talk to him and to both allow him privacy and the emergency services space to work.
'I had a gentleman who was visibly distraught, very upset, who had just witnessed something very traumatic, so my initial response at that point was to console him as best as I could,' she said.
She said during their conversation he said he did not really speak to his family, but wanted to speak to a friend for support.
'He kept saying 'Why? Why my Natalie, why my Natalie, and who would do such a thing', and I do remember thinking that seems a bit odd because at this point it wasn't confirmed to being treated as a murder or even as suspicious at this point,' she told the court.
The final witness, another first responder, Constable Feeley told the court he saw a knife around three or four feet behind Ms McNally's body.
He said he saw 'a large amount of blood' surrounding Ms McNally, on the walls and into the living room.
He also described seeing McCullagh, and described him as 'distraught, overcome with grief, crying and nearly falling about the place'.
The trial continues.
