Curtis Reid

That was something the judge made a pointed reference to.

To just show the brutality of this, the neck compressions, the lacerations to her neck, the stab wounds.

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

So he has to take all those factors into account.

And the fact that McCullough did not plead guilty in any way.

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, 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 in a typical case would have been about 17 years.

The fact that McCullough was handed 31 years just shows the extent of the brutality in this case.

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

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 present and he was alone with her.

He was being given time to grieve what they thought was her partner.

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

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