YouTuber Allegedly Faked Livestream To Create Alibi For When He Stabbed Pregnant Woman To Death, Officials Say

A YouTuber from Northern Ireland allegedly faked a livestream on his YouTube channel in order to create an alibi while he stabbed a woman to death, officials said.

Stephen McCullagh set up the livestream that purportedly showed him playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City on his YouTube channel when, in reality, he was nowhere near his computer, according to authorities.

McCullagh is accused of killing Natalie McNally, who was 15 weeks pregnant at the time of the Dec. 18 attack at her home in Lurgan, Insider reported.

During a recent hearing, McCullagh was denied bail, after the court was told that his livestream ran for six hours on the same night that McNally was stabbed to death in her home.

Senior police investigator Neil McGuiness told the court that technical analysis determined the footage was pre-recorded, according to The Guardian.

During the faked livestream, McCullagh said the video was live but claimed there was a technical glitch that meant he could not respond to the video’s live chat, officials said.

McCullagh, however, later admitted the stream was a deception, telling police that it was recorded on Dec. 13 or December 14, about four days before the murder, Belfast Telegraph reported.

Police believe McCullagh left his cell phone in the McNally home and set the device to record audio in order to determine whether or not the victim's family suspected him. He later returned to collect the phone and claimed he had forgotten it, officials said.

At the hearing, authorities accused the suspect of a “sophisticated, calculated and cool-headed plot” and claimed he was “capable of deception beyond imagination."

McCullagh did not speak during the hearing.

"Natalie was a remarkable person," the victim's brother Brandon recently said at a rally in his sister's name, the Insider reported. "From the age of three she lived with type 1 diabetes. 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."