A man accused of murdering his pregnant partner told police an “aggressive” ex-boyfriend had been harassing her prior to her death, a jury heard today (Monday).
Natalie McNally was 15 weeks pregnant when she was killed in her Silverwood Green home in Lurgan on the evening of 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 murdering the 32-year old.
As the trial at Belfast Crown Court entered its second week, the jury of six men and six women heard transcripts of a police interview conducted with McCullagh at Musgrave Police Station between 4.05pm on 4.45pm on Tuesday December 20, 2022.
The jury has already heard that after McCullagh called at Ms McNally’s home on the evening of Monday December 19, 2022 and found her lifeless body, he called 999.
He was arrested at 11.45pm that evening on suspicion of murdering her.
Transcripts of an interview he had with police were read in court today and the jury heard that, apart from answering questions about an ex-boyfriend of Ms McMally’s, he refused to answer all other questions posed and provided ‘no comment’ responses.
In the presence of his solicitor, McCullagh confirmed he was Ms McNally’s partner then refused to tell police how long they had been in a relationship for.
He replied “no comment” when asked questions concerning his movements on the Sunday evening, whether he used public transport that night and when was the last time he had heard from Ms McNally.
McCullagh also declined to answer questions about Ms McNally’s diabetes, about what made him go to her house on the Monday evening, what happened when he entered her home and why he called 999.
When asked by police if he was aware of any problems she had with “other people” during the interview, McCullagh initially replied “no comment.”
At this point his solicitor told McCullagh “I think you can answer” and he then told police an ex-boyfriend whose name he didn’t know was “harassing her.”
McCullagh said Mc McNally and the male had broken up around nine month before and that he was “calling her in the middle of the night on a private number” and sending her emails, despite her having blocked him.
He said that the Thursday before her death, he stayed over at Ms McNally’s home and that around midnight the ex-boyfriend called her.
McCullagh said the ex called her “repeatedly … about two or three times”, that Ms McNally answered the first call as she thought it “might be work or might be an emergency” and that after she heard the male caller say ‘hey’ she hung up then put her phone on silent and didn’t answer any other calls.
Describing the ex-boyfriend as “aggressive”, McCullagh said Ms McNally was “always very upset to hear from him.”
McCullagh also spoke of an earlier incident and claimed the ex-boyfriend had “emailed her a bunch of abuse”.
When asked about the contents of the email, McCullagh said there was abuse about her appearance and “some sectarianism”.
This email, McCullagh said, made Ms McNally “very upset, she was crying a lot.”
Asked if there had ever been any violence in that relationship, he replied “no idea.”
Towards the conclusion of the interview, McCullagh’s solicitor said his client was “very keen to co-operate and help” and that there was “nothing to link him to” her death.
When asked if he knew anything about her death, McCullagh replied “No. No. No comment.”
At that point of the investigation, McCullagh was released from custody at 7.34pm on Tuesday December 20, 2022.
Four days later, McCullagh’s solicitor was informed that he had been released from his bail and had been de-suspected.
The jury also heard more agreed facts concerning a word document located on McCullagh’s computer.
Entitled 000natalietimeline.rtf, the document was created at 10.45pm on Tuesday December 20, 2022, was saved at 12.33am the following morning and was reviewed at 3.10pm on Tuesday December 27, 2022.
The document contained an outline of when he last saw Ms McNally on Sunday December 18 at his home and also outlined what he said happened when he called at her home the following evening.
In the document, McCullagh noted buying alcohol on the Sunday afternoon, posting on social media about his livestream that night then performing the live stream that Sunday evening.
Regarding his movements on Monday December 19, McCullagh noted waking up, using Tik Tok then going back to sleep.
He also noted concerns that Ms McNally had not messaged him back that day, that he went to work at 6pm then due to concerns called at her home at around 9.50pm.
McCullagh noted that after arriving at her home the ‘lights were on, rang doorbell, no answer.’
In the document, McCullagh said the door was unlocked, he entered and went upstairs where he found ‘Natalie in the hallway/living room doorway entrance.
‘Blood everywhere. Cold to touch. No pulse. Face down in dog bowl. Blue lips.
‘Called 999. Asked for ambulance. Operator ran me through CPR and performed that until ambulance and police arrived around 10.05pm.’
At hearing
