Man accused of murdering girlfriend told police she had abusive ex, court hears

By Cillian Sherlock, Press Association

A man accused of murdering his pregnant girlfriend told police that her ex-boyfriend was abusive, a court has heard.

Stephen McCullagh, who is accused of the murder of Natalie McNally in December 2022, made the claim during a police interview.

McNally, 32, was stabbed at her home in Silverwood Green, Lurgan, on the night of December 18th, 2022, when she was 15 weeks pregnant.

McCullagh, 35, from Woodland Gardens, Lisburn, denies murder.

Belfast Crown Court heard on Monday that he had indicated “no comment” more than 80 times in his first interview with police on December 20th, 2022, after being arrested the night before for suspected involvement in the murder of McNally.

The defendant, whose solicitor was present during the interview, was told that he did not have to say anything but that inferences could be made about this at trial.

The detective constable conducting the interview asked McCullagh about his reply to the charge after being arrested, which was: “Murder. Why?”

The defendant said in interview that it was correct he said that.

After being told by his solicitor he did not need to answer a question about what he meant by that, the court heard he replied: “No comment.”

He went on to tell police that he last saw McNally at 1pm on Sunday December 18th, when she left the house to return home for a shower before watching a football match with her parents.

He said the next time he saw her was on Monday night when he went to check up on her to see if she was OK.

He told police he was her partner at the time.

Asked to elaborate on the relationship, McCullagh said: “No comment.”

The question and answers were detailed to the jury by a prosecuting barrister and the senior investigating officer in the case, who were reading from a transcript of the interview.

The court heard he answered “no comment” to a range of questions about their relationship, his movements, his vehicle, McNally’s vehicle, his phone, the deceased’s phone, her diabetes, if he was on any medication, and if he had taken any alcohol on December 19th.

Some of the interview was read out verbatim while other sections were summarised.

The court heard more than 80 specific instances of McCullagh indicating no comment.

McCullagh’s solicitor told him he could answer a question about whether he was aware of any problems McNally had with other people.

He told police that he was aware of issues with a former boyfriend.

He said the man had been abusive and had harassed her with phone calls and emails.

He said he did not know the man’s name, where he was from, or whether she had reported it to police.

McCullagh said the harassment included emailing her abuse and calling her in the middle of the night on private numbers.

He said he had not met the man and added that McNally was upset when she heard from him.

The defendant said the emails were aggressive and talked about her appearance in a derogatory fashion and used sectarian slurs.

He said McNally previously lived with the man at her Silverwood address.

He said he had no idea if there had been violence.

He said the ex-partner had been aware she had a new boyfriend.

McCullagh returned to providing no-comment answers on further questioning about what made him go to McNally’s house on Monday and his contact with police.

Asked if he had anything to do with the death of McNally, he initially indicated no comment before the solicitor said he could answer the question.

McCullagh then told police: “No.”

His solicitor said he was “very keen to co-operate as a witness” but argued he was being treated as a suspect while it had not been confirmed there had been an actual murder and there was nothing to link his client to the incident.

The court also heard evidence from a PSNI detective constable about a text file found on the defendant’s computer which contained “Natalie timeline” in the file name.

The document appeared to have been created hours after the interview at 10:45pm on December 20th, saved on December 22nd, and had been most recently viewed on December 27th.

It said he had bought breakfast food for the pair on December 18th, and started drinking after she left to watch football with her parents.

It goes on to say he started a Christmas Special livestream playing Grand Theft Auto Vice City and Robot Wars from 6pm, in which he drank, and ended just after midnight.

He said he had then replied to McNally’s text which he missed during the stream, before having a bath and going to bed at around 2:30am.

On Monday, December 19th, the timeline document states that he recorded and uploaded a view of a Star Wars lightsaber and sent an apology text to McNally as he thought she was mad at him for drinking while she was pregnant.

It goes on to say that he began to worry about McNally, and went to her house at around 9:50pm before finding her upstairs with “blood everywhere”, she was “cold to touch”, with “no pulse” and “blue lips”.

It states he then called for an ambulance and performed CPR on her until it arrived.

The trial will continue on Tuesday morning.