Editorial: Stephen ​McCullagh’s jail term is hefty by Northern Ireland's standards, albeit not enough

Justice was served in Northern Ireland yesterday for Natalie McNally when her murderer was sentenced to 31 years behind bars.

​The jail term given to Stephen McCullagh for the pre-meditated killing of his pregnant partner is not in fact long enough, but by the feeble standards of sentences in this province, it is hefty.

It is hard to think of a more calculated homicide than this one – McCullagh carefully staged a livestream to make it appear he was playing computer games when it was pre-recorded to be broadcast as live as he was travelling to kill her.

The level of violence used shows how brutal and wicked this man was, and how disturbed too – planning such violence, going to elaborate lengths to conceal it, then having it within him to inflict such sickening scenes, and finally turning up at the wake to pretend to grieve Natalie.

This thoroughly sick man, McCullagh, will be free in his 60s (if not before - perhaps the political refusal to build enough prison spaces in NI will in future decades lead to the early releases we have seen across Britain in recent years). He might live in good health until his 90s.

His sentence is therefore not enough – a twentysomething who did the same evil deed would be free in their 50s. When the death penalty was abolished in the UK in the 1960s (a penalty that would clearly be appropriate in a case such as this) the public was led to believe that life would mean life. Not only did that not happen, but within decades of abolition ‘life’ terms were pitiably soft – such prisoners were typically detained for 13 years.

Society is edging back towards taking murder as seriously as it did for centuries. To decide to end someone’s life is a grievous crime. People talk about rehabilitation and deterrence but these are not the only principles in justice – retribution is key. McCullagh’s 31-year term, while inadequate, shows criminal justice moving the right way.