LAST UPDATE
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13 hrs ago
A LIVESTREAM “PEDDLED as an alibi” in the trial of a man accused of murdering his pregnant girlfriend was filmed four days previously, a police digital forensic analyst has said.
Stephen McCullagh appeared to be live broadcasting himself playing computer games at his home in Co Antrim on 18 December 2022, when police believe Natalie McNally was killed at her home in Lurgan, Co Armagh.
McCullagh, 36, of Woodland Gardens in Lisburn, has denied murdering his girlfriend Ms McNally, who was 15 weeks pregnant with their son.
A jury of six men and six women has been sworn in to serve during the trial, which is expected to last around five weeks, before Mr Justice Patrick Kinney.
Today, the fourth day of his trial at Belfast Crown Court, McCullagh wore a grey T-shirt and jeans as he sat between two prison staff in the dock.
Ms McNally’s family and friends watched on from the public gallery behind him.
The prosecution contends the livestream was pre-recorded and broadcast as live on 18 December, while McCullagh disguised himself and took a bus to Lurgan and walked to Ms McNally’s house where he killed her.
They say he later got a taxi home before returning to Ms McNally’s house on the night of 19 December, when he made a 999 call.
Earlier this week, the trial heard Ms McNally, 32, was subjected to a prolonged assault, including stab wounds to the neck, strangulation and heavy blows to the head.
The prosecution has contended her murder was “planned, calculated and premeditated, one which he (McCullagh) hoped to get away with”.
Yesterday, the court was shown more than an hour of footage from the supposed livestream which showed McCullagh playing the games Grand Theft Auto and Robot Wars, while drinking Guinness and Baileys and making references to broadcasting live.
This morning, Detective Constable Matthews, a digital forensic analyst, gave evidence following his examination of McCullagh’s computer.
He said his examination of the device “provided extensive evidence indicating that the broadcast was pre-recorded and later streamed as a live event”.
DC Matthews said examination of the computer and software indicated the six-hour broadcast had been recorded on 14 December and saved as a video file.
He said it was broadcast as live on McCullagh’s YouTube account Votesaxon07 on 18 December, explaining the software showed no signs of user activity between 6pm and just after midnight on 19 December.
The video file was then deleted in the early hours of 19 December, and subsequently removed from the computer’s recycle bin.
“Activity relating to video recording was taking place on the 14th, the creation of the pre-recorded video file was completed on the 15th, in the early hours,” he said.
“There was the creation of a social media advert between the 14th and 17th and a live stream of a pre-recorded video file was carried out between the 18th and 19th, and finally the deletion of the said file in the early hours of the 19th, 2022.”
Later the trial was shown clips from CCTV and doorbell cameras on the evening of 18 December showing a person walking from the street where the defendant lived to a bus stop where they boarded a bus to Lurgan, paying with cash, then walked to Miss McNally’s street.
The person of interest was seen in later clips, wearing a different outfit and walking from Miss McNally’s street into Lurgan where they got into a taxi outside Fa Joes bar. The taxi was seen in another clip arriving on McCullagh’s street.
The trial will continue on Monday.
