Ciaran Dunbar

Yeah, I mean, it was incredibly interesting.

I mean, to set the scene, we were sat in the press boxes, so the little rows just beside the actual judge and

They opened the door to the public gallery and I would say about 30 to 40 people all came in.

They all sort of flooded through the door and they all sort of sat down.

And throughout the actual sentencing, so to explain a sentencing typically lasts around about 45 minutes an hour, a judge is reading a pre-prepared statement, which we refer to as his sentencing remarks.

And...

There was a mix of emotions when they were reading the details about how Natalie died and the brutal and sustained attack that Stephen McCullough committed on her.

There was quite a few people crying visibly in the gallery.

When the judge decided that he was going to be serving 31 years in prison before he's considered for release by the parole board,

there was almost sort of a silence.

There was an eeriness.

And I think it was, you know, it was complimented by the fact that Stephen McCullough showed no reaction.

I mean, you could feel the air, those sort of lift in the room when it was this sort of, well, this is over, you know, and I'm sure we'll touch upon it, which is that it's not really over for the McNally family.

But in terms of the reaction in court, it was, there was an eerie silence, but, but, you know, you could tell that they were, they were thankful.

No, to explain, so he was sat in the dock the entire time and the entire time he looked almost bored.

There was one time that I glanced over to him and the judge was really making a specific reference to the unborn child.

So obviously Natalie was 15 weeks pregnant and her family died.

you know, had decided to call the baby Dane.

So they referred to, you know, the baby Dane throughout the actual trial itself.

He did look particularly emotional whenever the baby was mentioned and when Natalie's pregnancy was mentioned.