YouTuber Who Used a Fake GTA Livestream as an Alibi for His Girlfriend’s Murder Appeals His Sentence and Is the “Most Hated Man in Prison”

Gaming YouTuber Stephen McCullagh received a sentence to life behind bars earlier this year after being found guilty of murdering his pregnant girlfriend. McCullagh, who created a fake GTA livestream to use as an alibi, has since appealed his sentence after it was revealed he was “the most hated man” in prison and is reportedly at the top of an inmate “hitlist.”

McCullagh of Lisburn, Northern Ireland, was convicted in March 2026 after a five week trial which ultimately resulted in a guilty verdict. The YouTuber had been charged for the murder of his girlfriend Natalie McNally in December 2022, she was 15 weeks pregnant at the time. 

Jurors heard how McCullagh had tried to use pre-recorded footage of him playing Grand Theft Auto and pass it off as a livestream which was live during the period of time when Natalie McNally was murdered. During the trial he claimed that he had been at home streaming during the crime, however, police soon found out that the “livestream” had been recorded four days earlier.

McCullagh was sentenced in Belfast Crown Court on June 3 2026. He was given a life sentence with a minimum term of 31 years before he can be considered for parole, reports Dexerto. Almost a month after his sentencing the Public Prosecution Service of Northern has now been notified that an appeal has been filed to challenge the life sentence.

Stephen McCullagh is on an inmate “hitlist”

According to an article from The Mirror that was published a few days after his sentencing, McCullagh is living in terror and is apparently the “most hated man in prison.” The YouTuber reportedly became a walking target and had to stay in the jail’s hospital wing ahead of his sentencing for his own safety.

McCullagh is said to be behaving well behind bars but still poses a security risk due to him topping his fellow inmate’s “hitlist” due to the other prisoners being disgusted with him murdering his pregnant girlfriend. A source explained, “That’s one thing the prisoners don’t like – harming innocent children.”

Another source revealed that “He is being held on the Moyola hospital wing for his own protection. It’s separated from all other residential units and holds around 19 older, disabled, and high-profile inmates.”

McCullagh denied brutally stabbing and throttling Natalie McNally to death but it’s unclear how much his appeal against the sentence will actually achieve. At his sentencing judge Mr Justice Kinney gave a rather damning summation of McCullagh’s actions, telling him, “You planned this murder in remorseless detail. You attacked someone you profess to love in a frenzied assault, which was characterised by its excessive and gratuitous violence.”

(Featured image: PSNI, Irish True Crime, YouTube)

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