A YouTuber reportedly staged a fake livestream showing him playing “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City”, which he used as an alibi for murdering a pregnant women, prosecutors in the U.K. said on Thursday.
Stephen McCullagh is accused of setting up the phony stream to give authorities his whereabouts during the killing of Natalie McNally, who was 15 weeks pregnant at the time of her murder last month, according to BBC News.
The 32-year-old appeared in a Lisburn, Northern Ireland court on Thursday, where his request to be released on bail was denied.
The court heard that McCullagh ran a livestream for upwards of six hours on the same night McNally was stabbed to death in her home.
A technical analysis poked numerous holes in McCullagh’s alibi by determining the livestream footage was in fact pre-recorded, senior police investigator, Neil McGuinness told The Guardian.
During the stream in question, McCullagh insisted the video was live, however he could not reply to the live chat because of a “technical glitch.”
He eventually admitted to authorities that the livestream was not recorded on the night of McNally’s death, but was instead filmed about four days before the killing, the Belfast Telegraph reports.
At his court hearing Thursday, prosecutors claimed McCullagh of concocting a “sophisticated, calculated and cool-headed plot,” before adding he was “capable of deception beyond imagination,” according to the Guardian.
McCullagh also allegedly left his cellphone in McNally’s house after her murder in an effort to record audio in the home and to figure out whether or not they suspected him in her stabbing death.
Meanwhile, an attorney for McCullagh told the BBC that the pre-recorded livestream did not necessarily mean he killed McNally.
McCullagh himself did not speak a word during Thursday’s hearing, according to several outlets.
On January 28, McNally’s family held a rally in her name organized by The National Women’s Council, the Guardian noted.
McNally was “delighted to be becoming a mother for the first time,” according to her brother Brendan.
“Natalie was a remarkable person. From the age of three she lived with type 1 diabetes,” McNally’s brother Brendan said at last week’s rally. “She was delighted to be becoming a mother for the first time. For any young person living with diabetes in Northern Ireland, Natalie is an ideal inspiration.”
McCullagh is charged with the murder of Natalie McNally last December. He has since denied the charges.
