Reset of phone nothing to do with Natalie McNally death – ex-partner tells court
By Rebecca Black, Press Association
An ex-partner of murder victim Natalie McNally has said resetting his phone after her death had nothing to do with her.
The man, who cannot be named because of a court order, had been arrested for questioning by detectives probing the murder but was later released.
McNally, 32, was 15 weeks pregnant when she was killed at her home in Lurgan on December 18th, 2022.
Her partner, Stephen McCullagh, 36, of Woodland Gardens in Lisburn, is on trial for her murder at Belfast Crown Court.
He has denied the charge.
Previously, McCullagh’s trial has heard he told police that McNally’s ex had been responsible.
The man responded saying that was “ridiculous” when that was put to him in court on Monday.
He described McNally as his best friend, and insisted that McCullagh was responsible for her death.
A jury of six men and six women has been sworn in to serve during the trial, which is expected to last about five weeks, before Justice Patrick Kinney.
McNally’s family and friends have been watching on from the public gallery during the trial.
The former partner returned to continue his evidence on Tuesday.
The court heard that he had been arrested within the last two weeks and was on probation after being accused of sending threatening messages to a man that a former partner of his had been involved with.
He was reminded several times during his evidence of his right not to answer a question if he risked self-incrimination.
“I know, I don’t care, I’m here to tell the truth for Natalie, and that’s what I’m going to do,” he said.
On Monday, the court heard that the man had been watching the World Cup final with his then partner on the night that McNally was killed, and that his then partner had a video of him on that night asleep on the sofa.
He said he first learned McNally was dead after one of her neighbours contacted him on the Snapchat app to tell him.
“She said she’s been murdered, I think she said Natalie has been stabbed at the top of her stairs,” he said.
He also said he thought the killing might have been accidental, or that she might have miscarried and taken her own life after some negative messaging between them recently.
He was also told by his then partner that police had been to the house to speak to him about McNally while he had been at work.
Defence barrister John Kearney asked him about how he had factory reset his mobile phone days after her murder.
The man said that had been nothing to do with McNally’s murder.
He said he did it before he spoke to police because he was concerned about drugs he had in his house.
“I factory reset it for a reason… it had nothing to do with deleting messages between me and Natalie.”
He described having two detectives sitting in his flat while he had a “big bag of weed” in a cupboard.
“It was because there would have been messages to do with drugs, and weed in particular,” he said.
Asked why he had not just deleted those particular messages, he responded: “My best friend had just been murdered, detectives were in my house, I wanted to get there quick, I factory reset the phone because I had a feeling they’re going to smell the weed.
“That didn’t happen, in hindsight I didn’t need to do that and I shouldn’t have done it, but I was worried they were going to want my phone.”
Kearney also asked if he had told Natalie’s neighbour that there had been some “nasty” messaging between McNally and himself.
He responded: “I was probably telling her everything, the truth, I had been sending nasty messages, dirty messages, whatever.”
The man also described being almost eight weeks sober and being involved with a new partner.
The trial continues.
