How Britain’s worst catfish predator targeted 3,500 children online, driving one to suicide – Firstpost

Alexander McCartney, a Northern Ireland man who abused more than 3,000 children online, was sentenced Friday (October 25) to life in prison with a minimum term of 20 years. The 26-year-old catfish has been described as one of the world’s most prolific child sex abusers.

Some of his victims were as young as four-year-old girls. His blackmail even drove one of the girls to suicide in West Virginia, United States. McCartney’s victims were present all over the world, including America, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Australia and at least 26 other countries.

Who is Alexander McCartney? How did he prey on young girls? We will explain.

Alexander McCartney, Britain’s prolific ‘catfish killer’

Alexander McCartney grew up outside Newry, Northern Ireland. He was studying computer science at Ulster University when he was charged in 2019 BBC.

McCartney was interested in gaming and has been described as “introverted and socially awkward”.

A source said BBC news‘He didn’t have much contact with people outside his friend group.
He may have been on the fringes of things, but he had friends who clearly didn’t know about this.”

A resident who lives near his home said McCartney “came across as a pleasant, likeable, intelligent young man. There’s nothing special about him.”

The many crimes of Alexander McCartney

McCartney has proven to be anything but ordinary. He posed as a teenage girl to befriend other girls on Snapchat before abusing and blackmailing them.

According to The Guardianhe is considered the worst catfish offender in the UK.
Catfishing is when a person creates a false identity to deceive and exploit another person.

Chief Inspector Eamonn Corrigan of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) called McCartney a “disgusting child predator” whose “crime on an industrial scale” AFP.

According to the BBC report, he convinced the victims to think they were talking to a girl of the same age on social media. He then encouraged them to share indecent images. Once he had the photo, he would
catfish‘ and blackmailing the victim into engaging in sexual acts.

Corrigan said McCartney “threatened to share these images online for the enjoyment of other pedophiles and use them to further abuse and harass already terrified and exploited children.”

In one case, he groomed, sexually abused and blackmailed a 12-year-old girl in just nine minutes. BBC.

Operating from his bedroom in his family home in the rural Lissummon Road area outside Newry, he targeted girls who were gay or exploring their sexuality.

“While in his nursery in Newry, he began his offending in his late teens and built what can only be described as a pedophile enterprise,” Corrigan told reporters outside Belfast Crown Court.

“McCartney is a dangerous, ruthless, cruel pedophile,” he said AFP.

Announcing the predator’s sentence, Judge John O’Hara noted how in some cases McCartney forced victims to involve their younger siblings, including children between the ages of three and five.

He made this demand to 12-year-old American Cimarron Thomas, who took her life in 2018. McCartney instructed her to involve her younger sister in sexual acts he pressured her to do, but Cimarron refused, reported AFP.

He threatened to share her intimate images with her father Ben Thomas, a US Army veteran.
An investigation three years later revealed that Cimarron shot himself three minutes after the blackmail call.

During the abuse, the visibly distressed teen told McCartney she would contact the police and commit suicide. He cruelly told her he didn’t care and even started counting down when he would share her photos The Guardian report.

“He might as well have pulled the trigger himself. There is only one place for him and that is behind bars,” Corrigan reportedly said.

Cimarron’s body was found by her nine-year-old sister. Eighteen months later, her grieving father, Ben, also died by suicide without knowing why his daughter took her life.

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Indictment against Alexander McCartney

Announcing McCartney’s sentence, Judge John O’Hara said he was not aware of a single case “in which the defendant has used social media on an industrial scale to cause such terrible and catastrophic harm to young girls, up to and including the death of a 12 year old. birthday girl”.

“The suspect was ruthless. He ignored multiple opportunities to stop, he ignored multiple pleas for mercy. He lied and lied and lied again,” he added.

McCartney was arrested several times between 2016 and 2019 but continued to prey on young girls despite bail conditions.

Judge O’Hara said the ex-computer science student continued to offend in “an even more sinister, dramatic and disgusting manner” even after his third arrest.

McCartney admitted 185 charges including manslaughter and blackmail involving 70 children, making and distributing indecent images and inciting children to engage in sexual activity, including penetration.

O’Hara said McCartney’s “depravity” has caused his victims “depression, anxiety, stress, shame, embarrassment, loss of trust and difficulty trusting others.”

He said: “Many of them have had their childhood stolen. Some have tried to commit suicide. Others report self-harm and suicidal thoughts. Whatever remorse the defendant is now trying to convince me of, he had absolutely no remorse at the time.”

McCartney was given a life sentence for his crimes. Prosecutors say he targeted 3,500 girls, some as young as 10 years old.

It was a phone call from a 13-year-old girl in Scotland in 2019 that led to the predator’s eventual capture, reported BBC.

Catherine Kierans, from the Northern Ireland Prosecution Service (PPS), called on children and young people to seek help if they are coerced by someone demanding sexual images or videos.

“This is a crime. It’s not your fault. Please talk to an adult you trust,” she said.

According to AFPKierans asked parents and guardians to talk to their children to protect them online.
“It is by bringing these issues into the open that we can break the cycle of secrecy abusers,” she said.

Kierans said McCartney’s depravity was such that it was “one of the most distressing and prolific cases of child sexual abuse we have ever seen in the PPS”.

She said some victims may never be identified despite the exhaustive efforts of police.

With input from agencies