Moment PSNI swoop on home of man charged with murder of Natalie McNally

A team of specialist police officers trying to unravel the brutal murder swooped on the home of her alleged killer Stephen McCullagh on Tuesday afternoon.

The 31-year-old, who had been arrested earlier that day at another location, appeared in court on Thursday morning charged with murdering Natalie on December 18.

These exclusive pictures show the team of plain clothes detectives, uniformed officers and highly trained forensic specialists working inside Mr McCullagh’s house.

The team carried out extensive searches of his Woodland Gardens home in the affluent Lambeg area of Lisburn.

We can reveal the investigation also saw a team of detectives making door-to-door making to dozens of properties in the surrounding area as they continued their enquiry.

One neighbour told the Sunday World: “A police officer came to my door earlier and asked if I had any CCTV pictures from about seven weeks ago.”

The police team stayed in the area for over eight hours and didn’t leave until after midnight.

We watched as detectives walked up and down the street and forensic experts in white hazmat suits went in and out of the property.

A number of clear plastic bags were removed from the bungalow with some appearing to contain what appeared to be computer equipment.

Neighbours stood in quiet shock at the major investigation that was unfolding in their quiet suburban street.

The home is where it’s understood Mr McCullagh had lived with his parents until they both passed away several years ago.

Mr McCullagh’s home is now central to the investigation.

This is the address where he originally told police he had been live streaming a six-hour video game session at the time when detectives believe 19 miles away Natalie McNally was murdered inside her Lurgan home.

He had been arrested on December 19 after he had been the person who raised the alarm that Natalie had been murdered.

The live stream alibi combined with the fact his mobile phone remained in his Woodland Green bungalow, led to police initially ruling McCullagh, who was involved in a relationship with Natalie, out as a suspect.

He has since admitted that he had pre-recorded the YouTube session on the 13th or 14th of December.

And following fast-moving dramatic events a week ago police made the decision to re-arrest the part-time assistant audience editor at the Belfast Telegraph.

It’s also the address a detective told Lisburn Magistrates’ Court on Thursday that a taxi driver claims he dropped a fare he picked up from Lurgan town centre on the night Natalie was murdered.

The court was told detectives have a masked and hooded man on CCTV getting a bus to Lurgan and getting off at the stop closest to the victim’s house.

They allege after murdering Natalie, spending 40 minutes inside her house, he completely changed his clothes and then takes a taxi from outside a pub which had been ordered by someone else.

Police allege that taxi went to Stephen McCullagh’s house and dropped off its fare.

DCI McGuinness said the driver had shown police where he dropped the fare and while he wasn’t familiar with Lisburn, the GPRS in his taxi confirmed the location.

The court heard how with new evidence and lines of enquiry “coming in every hour,” the police view changed however, and he was re-arrested on January 31.

Giving evidence Detective chief inspector McGuinness explained how McCullagh was downgraded from suspect to witness based on a belief that he live-streamed a six-hour, online gaming session at the time Natalie was brutally killed.

However the court heard that recent evidence from the cyber-crime unit and the NCA revealed that McCullagh had pre-recorded the video which he had broadcast on his YouTube channel so he was re-arrested on Tuesday as a suspect and questioned until 3am on Thursday morning.

DCI McGuinness said that on the day of the murder McCullagh told his 37,000 followers he spoke be broadcasting live that evening but that he was “having trouble with his set up” so while he would be streaming, he would not be interacting with viewers’ comments.

It was this video, he told the court, which had initially provided McCullagh “an alibi for the time that she was attacked and murdered” and was the reason McCullagh’s status changed from suspect to witness.

But even when he was downgraded, and with cops urging him to help as he was the only person who had first-hand experience of the murder scene as he had discovered Natalie’s body, McCullagh refused to co-operate with investigators, the court heard.

Arrested and questioned as a suspect, McCullagh admitted he had recorded the streaming video five days before the murder but claimed that in the night Natalie’s was stabbed to death, he had been drinking and fell asleep.

He did also admit, the court heard, that someone came to his house at the same time the taxi dropped its fare nearby and he “proffered a few names” as to who it might have been.

Stephen McCullagh will appear before the court again on February 24.

Steven.moore@sundayworld.com