Natalie McNally's ex-boyfriend says he told police 'some white lies'

An ex-boyfriend of Natalie McNally has admitted he repeatedly lied to police in a statement given in the days after her death.

The man who cannot be named due to a reporting restriction is a witness giving evidence at the trial of Stephen McCullagh.

McCullagh, 36, from Woodland Gardens in Lisburn, County Antrim, has denied murdering his pregnant partner Natalie, who was killed in her Silverwood Green home in Lurgan on 18 December 2022.

The ex-boyfriend told Belfast Crown Court that he had told some "white lies'" about the amount of contact he had with Natalie McNally when giving a police statement in the days after her death.

He told the court when he was arrested by police two days later he "fixed all the little white lies in there".

John Kearney KC, a defence barrister for Stephen McCullagh, argued the initial statement was "full of lies".

The witness was asked: "Were these lies all designed to prevent police putting you in the frame for Natalie's murder?"

He responded that he had nothing to do with his ex-girlfriend's murder.

The man told the court: "I shouldn't have lied at all to the police that day. I lied over a few things.

"Probably because I was like, yeah I've nothing to do with this, but it might look like I'm involved because of the text messages."

He insisted: "I'm here to tell the truth for Natalie, that's what this is all about."

The barrister put it to him that he "told police a considerable number of lies in this statement?"

The barrister put it to him that he had failed to tell police that he was making "constant requests to sexually reengage" with Natalie and was asked "did you deliberately leave that out?"

He answered: "I don't know if I deliberately left it out or not."

His statement to police also referenced that Natalie had told him about a new boyfriend "some millionaire YouTube guy".

The barrister asked if he had been honest with police when he told them Natalie would have been trying to make him jealous by talking about other men.

He told the court: "I don't know.

"We were friends we would have talked about things like this."

The witness was taken through a number of emails, some which were sexual and others were described as "abusive". They were sent by him to Natalie in 2022.

The witness told the court "this is so difficult".

"The poor girl is dead and we're sitting here talking about these emails from me."

He was asked by a defence barrister: "Why did you send these emails?"

He told the court: "Because I'm not a nice person, I took advantage of Natalie. I wasn't nice to Natalie.

"I had a drinking problem, I've only really come to terms with that.

"I've sent these horrible messages, I'm not saying it's because of the drinking but I've had a problem with drink and weed.

"I would have been drunk in most of these emails."

Earlier in court, the ex-boyfriend said he reset his phone days after her murder as he had messages about drugs on the device.

The ex-boyfriend told Belfast Crown Court a reset of his phone "had nothing to do with deleting messages" between himself and the 32-year-old woman.

He was repeatedly warned by the judge about the danger of incriminating himself but said he was going to tell the truth, adding, "I'm here for Natalie".

"If I sink myself and get myself in more trouble I don't care, this is about Natalie," he said.

The defence barrister for McCullagh questioned him about the factory reset of his phone following the death of his former girlfriend.

While at work, he said he had been told there were police officers at his home.

"There were two detectives sitting in my flat, there was a big bag of weed sitting in a cupboard and I thought they would have been able to smell it," he said.

"My best friend had just been murdered, there were two detectives in my house," he added.

"I was worried they were going to want my phone. There would have been messages to do with drugs and weed in particular."

He explained he pulled over before he got home and reset the phone.

He was also asked if he told a neighbour of Natalie's that there had been "some nasty messaging" between Natalie and himself.

"Yeah, I was probably telling her everything, the truth, I had been sending nasty messages, dirty messages, whatever."

The trial continues.