Man’s gaming ‘livestream’ at time of girlfriend’s homicide was recorded 4 days earlier, court docket advised | Armagh

A person in Northern Ireland confected an alibi for the homicide of his pregnant girlfriend by importing a prerecorded gaming session to YouTube and pretending it was a dwell stream, a court docket has been advised.

Stephen McCullagh broadcast a six-hour recording of him enjoying Grand Theft Auto and Robot Wars to create the impression that he was at dwelling, whereas in actual fact he was 17 miles away committing homicide, prosecutors advised Belfast crown court docket on Thursday.

McCullagh, 36, of Lisburn, County Antrim, denies murdering Natalie McNally, 32, who was discovered lifeless at her dwelling in Lurgan, County Armagh, in December 2022.

The prosecution alleges McCullagh hoped to get away with a brutal killing that was “planned, calculated and premeditated”.

It is alleged he recorded the gaming session on the nights of 14 and 15 December and broadcast it on his YouTube account, Votesaxon07, on the night of 18 December. Meanwhile, he disguised himself, took a bus to Lurgan, walked to McNally’s dwelling, killed her and took a taxi dwelling.

A state pathologist, Dr James Lyness, advised the court docket that McNally, who was 15 weeks pregnant, was subjected to a chronic assault that included stab wounds to the neck, strangulation and heavy blows to the pinnacle.

The jury of six males and 6 girls was proven segments of the published wherein McCullagh appeared carrying a Santa hat and mentioned he had “wanted to do a live stream for some time now”.

McCullagh advised viewers that as a result of it was an previous laptop he couldn’t verify the livechat. He drank Guinness and Baileys, and made references to staying at dwelling and broadcasting dwell. “I am not leaving the house tonight,” he mentioned.

He went to McNally’s home on 19 December, a day after the homicide, and made a 999 name, saying he had discovered his girlfriend’s physique.

DC Matthews, a digital forensic analyst, advised the court docket that examination of McCullagh’s laptop and software program “provided extensive evidence indicating that the broadcast was prerecorded and later streamed as a live event”.

It was recorded on 14 December and saved as a video file that was deleted within the early hours of 19 December, then faraway from the pc’s recycle bin, mentioned the analyst.

After police arrested McCullagh and put it to him that the video stream had not been broadcast dwell, he made a press release admitting that it was recorded a number of nights earlier than the homicide.

The jury was proven a knife that police imagine could have been used within the killing.

Mr Justice Kinney is presiding over the trial, which began on Monday and is predicted to final 5 weeks.