LIVE as Stephen McCullagh sentenced for murder of pregnant Natalie McNally

The trial heard that McCullagh concocted an alibi that he had been live-streaming himself playing computer games on his YouTube channel when Ms McNally was murdered on December 18 2022.

But police experts discovered the six-hour stream had actually been filmed four days before, and broadcast as live on December 18.

Mr MacCreanor KC said the murderer had put on a “staged performance” in the aftermath of the killing.

He said Ms McNally had sustained serious and extensive injuries in a “brutal assault”.

He said this included the compression of her neck, as well as stab wounds to her neck and blunt force trauma to her head consistent with at least five heavy blows.

He said either the compression or the stab wounds could have caused her death on their own, but there was difficulty in determining the final sequence of events.

Mr MacCreanor told the court that McCullagh had put forward an “orchestrated show” as the person who raised the alarm about her death, and the police initially considered him to be overwhelmed.

He added: “That of course was all a staged performance by him, one that he may have thought he had gotten away with.”