Ciaran Dunbar

You know, the dog bowl element, you know, the fact that she was found near a dog bowl and whether or not she was actually in the dog bowl and how it was filled with her blood.

You know, that was something the judge made a pointed reference to.

Did you show the brutality of this?

You know, the neck compressions, the lacerations to her neck, you know, the stab wounds, you know.

It was an intensely graphic and like the judge referred to, it was a concerted effort and a brutal, brutal attack.

So, you know, he has to take all those factors into account.

And the fact that McCullough did not plead guilty in any way, you know, these all go into the factors in terms of the sentence that he passes down.

And he discussed things like

the minimum when it comes to a life sentence, you know, there was references in the sentencing remarks that the minimum in a typical case would roughly be between 12 and 15 years.

And sometimes in extenuating circumstances, it would be the minimum would be 17 years.

So he's already using that as a jumping off point when it comes to McCullough.

So to put that into context, the fact that the minimum would have, and you know, a typical case would have been about 17 years.

The fact that McCullough was handed 31 years just shows, you know, the extents of the brutality in this case.

It was also the devious nature of which he misled the family as well.

You know, there were references to how he was comforted by the McNally family after she was killed and that they thought he was this grieving partner who had lost not only his girlfriend, but his unborn child.

And there was moments where the judge referenced how Stephen McCullough would spend time with the McNally family in their home

where Natalie's body was, you know, present and he was alone with her.

You know, he was given time to grieve what they thought was her partner.

So, you know, a judge really pointed to that as, you know, a real devious nature.

And like you said as well, the concerted effort that he went to to blame Lewis Jones.