A member of the PSNI’s cyber crime unit today (Thursday) confirmed that a broadcast which appeared on YouTube was “pre-recorded and later streamed as a live event.”
The detective constable was called to give evidence on the fourth day of a trial centring on the murder of Natalie McNally.
The pregnant 32-year old was beaten, strangled and stabbed in her Silverwood Green home in Lurgan 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.
After being called to the witness stand at Belfast Crown Court, the detective constable confirmed that on January 31 and February 1, 2023 he examined several devices including McCullagh’s computer.
He was asked by Crown barrister Charles MacCreanor KC about a six hour and four minute broadcast that appeared on McCullagh’s YouTube channel on the evening of Sunday December 18, 2022 which was billed as a live stream.
The cyber expert said that after examining the computer, there was “extensive evidence” which indicated that the stream – 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 at the time of the murder.
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.
At hearing
More from the murder trial:
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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
