A compilation of CCTV footage concerning a ‘person of interest’ was shown today (Thursday) at a trial concerning the murder of pregnant Lurgan woman Natalie McNally.
This footage included a clip of a male getting out of a taxi from Lurgan, throwing two objects over a hedge then walking in the front gate of the address of the man accused of her murder.
Ms McNally was 15 weeks pregnant when she was beaten, strangled and stabbed in her Silverwood Green home in Lurgan.
It’s the Crown’s case that the 32-year old was murdered between 8.50pm and 9.30pm on Sunday December 18, 2022.
The father of her unborn child, 36-year old Stephen McCullagh from Woodland Gardens in Lisburn, has been accused of and has denied her murder.
During the fourth day at the trial at Belfast Crown Court, the jury of six men and six women were shown a compilation of CCTV clips and footage throughout Sunday December 18 and into the early hours of Monday 19.
The footage was gleaned from businesses, bars and households as well as a cameras on a Translink bus.
After being called to the witness stand, a detective sergeant was asked to play a series of clips.
The first clip shown was footage of Ms McNally leaving McCullagh’s Woodland Gardens home in Lisburn around 1pm on Sunday afternoon.
Also shown was footage of McCullagh leaving his home later that afternoon then a short time later CCTV from a Winemark in Lisburn which captured him buying alcohol.
A clip of Ms McNally turning to her Silverwood Green home that evening was shown.
Following this, a compilation of clips showing a male cited as a ‘person of interest’ by the Crown was played to the jury.
Clips of this male walking through Lisburn then getting on a bus at Dunmurry to Lurgan were played, as was footage of the male paying cash on the bus.
This same ‘person of interest’ was then captured on CCTV getting off the bus and walking through Lurgan.
Household cameras captured images of the same male walking along the Lough Road in Lurgan and again in Silverwood Court and Silverwood Green.
At around 9.30pm, the ‘person of interest’ appears to have changed clothes and is captured on the same cameras leaving the Silverwood area and in the centre of Lurgan before getting into a taxi.
This taxi travelled from Carnegie Street in Lurgan to Woodland Gardens in Lisburn.
After getting out of the taxi at around 11pm, the male passenger is then seen doing something outside the house.
When he was asked by Crown barrister Charles MacCreanor KC what that appeared to be, the detective sergeant said: “The figure appears to throw two objects over the hedge then walks in to the front gate of the defendant’s address.”
The final clips shown to the jury were captured in the early hours of Monday December 19, 2022.
Just after midnight one clip shows a male figure with a blue bin outside the house at Woodland Gardens whilst a second clip at just after 2am shows the same male in the same area walking to the bin, lifting then closing the lid then walking back into the house.
Also shown were three images taken from McCullagh’s Instagram account.
All three images depict McCullagh wearing a beanie-style hat with a black wig of curly hair underneath.
It’s the Crown’s case that the ‘person of interest’ captured on CCTV before getting into the taxi from Lurgan to Lisburn was wearing a beanie hat with dark hair underneath and that this was “the same look that the defendant has used before.”
Also called to give evidence today was a member of the PSNI’s cyber crime unit who confirmed that a broadcast which appeared on YouTube was “pre-recorded and later streamed as a live event.”
The detective constable confirmed that on January 31 and February 1, 2023 he examined several devices including McCullagh’s computer.
He was asked by Mr MacCreanor about a six hour and four minute broadcast that appeared on McCullagh’s YouTube channel on the evening of Sunday December 18, 2022.
The cyber expert said that after examining the computer, there was “extensive evidence” which indicated that the steam – entitled The Violent Night Christmas Live Gaming Stream – was not live but was pre-recorded.
He told the court that software called OBS had been used to play the stream on YouTube and that when someone was broadcasting a live stream there would be “indications they had moved between different scenes that were set” and there would be “adjustments they would do for a live broadcast.”
When asked to describe activity on the computer he examined between 6pm and midnight on Sunday December 18, 2022, the detective constable said: “There was no indication of any user action whatsoever.
He was then asked by Mr MacCreanor what that meant regarding the so-called live stream on McCullagh’s YouTube channel, and the officer said “the sole source of media broadcast on that night was a single media file.”
The Violent Night Christmas Live Gaming Stream was stopped manually at 12.05am on Monday December 19, 2022 and one minute later the file was deleted then removed from the recycling bin.
The jury has already heard that following his arrest on the evening of December 18, 2022 on suspicion of murdering Ms McNally, McCullagh provided an alibi – namely he had been live streaming on YouTube.
After his computer was examined and it was determined by the PSNI’s cyber crime unit that this six hour stream was not in fact live at all but had been recorded some days before, this was put to McCullagh.
In a pre-prepared statement he admitted to police he had recorded the stream on the night of December 14th and into the early hours of the 15th then put it out on YouTube on Sunday 18th.
The trial is not sitting tomorrow and before they left court, the jurors were addressed by Mr Justice Kinney.
Reminding them not to discuss the case with anyone else and not to carry out their own research, the senior judge told them: “Put this matter from your minds until you return to court on Monday morning.”
At hearing
More from the murder trial:
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Cyber expert tells trial there was ‘extensive evidence’ live stream was pre-recorded
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YouTube ‘live stream’ made by man accused of Natalie McNally murder played for jury
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Natalie McNally subjected to ‘prolong assault’ and likely her unborn child ‘died as a result’, says pathologist
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Dog bowl beside head of Natalie McNally ‘almost like it had been used to collect the blood’, murder trial hears
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Constable ‘tried to console’ accused who was ‘distraught’ at scene
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Jury hears 999 call from man accused of killing pregnant partner
