Alexander McCartney sentenced to at least 20 years in prison

Warning: This story contains harrowing details of extreme child sexual abuse

A man from Northern Ireland has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 20 years for extreme online sexual abuse of children and the manslaughter of a 12-year-old girl.

Alexander McCartney, 26, from County Armagh, admitted 185 charges – including more than 50 blackmail offences.

Now one of the world’s most prolific online child molesters, he has created fake personas to target up to 3,500 victims aged 10 to 16 from more than 30 countries.

He pleaded guilty to manslaughter after a 12-year-old American girl, Cimarron Thomas, committed suicide in 2018 while he was abusing her.

On Friday, Judge O’Hara told Belfast Crown Court that release of McCartney, who has been in custody for five years, would not be considered until 2039.

He said: “I feel no remorse or shame.”

He added that it was hard to imagine “a sexual deviant who poses a greater risk than this defendant.”

Warning: Disturbing details of extreme child abuse and strong language are mentioned in the following section.

Alexander McCartney’s litany of crimes between 2013 and 2019 has been described as “the UK’s biggest catfishing case”.

Cat fishing involves using a false identity online to befriend and exploit victims.

The “catfish” is the person who created the fake persona.

They target people through social media and messaging apps, usually for abuse and fraud.

Behind a computer screen in his home in Northern Ireland, McCartney brought fear and devastation into the lives of thousands of children around the world.

He contacted the vast majority of his victims via Snapchat, although on a few occasions he also used other social media sites such as Instagram and Kik.

He posed as a young girl on his 64 devices to trick his victims into sending intimate photos.

He sometimes used images he had received from other young girls and posed as such when speaking to new victims.

Once he had the photos, he blackmailed her for more extreme photos.

If they didn’t send them, he said, he would show them to their friends and family.

He forced the children to involve their younger siblings in the abuse, which included family pets and belongings.

A Snapchat spokesperson said the sexual exploitation of any person was horrific and illegal and “our thoughts are with the victims in this case.”

“If we discover this activity or it is reported to us, we will remove it, suspend the offending account, and report it to the authorities.”

The company said it was putting additional protections in place for teens to make it more difficult for them to be contacted by strangers.

“Parents can also see who their teens are talking to and who their friends are through our in-app Family Center,” they added.

In many cases, frightened children pleaded with McCartney to stop and begged that their pictures not be posted on the Internet.

Some said they would kill or hurt themselves.

One victim sent a picture of a cut on his arm. McCartney told them he “didn’t care.”

Another girl said: “I can’t stop shaking, I think I’m going to die.”

McCartney replied: “I don’t care.”

Police occasionally said he shared the images with other pedophiles.

He kept records of the children he abused and took screenshots of their Snapchat location pins so he knew where they were.

He was so relentless in his abuse that he had a template of messages that he copied and pasted to the children.

The court found that the harm McCartney caused was “unquantifiable” and that he “degraded and humiliated” victims for his own sexual gratification.

Many of his child victims were never identified, but their lives were changed forever.

Although investigators believe up to 3,500 children were targeted; This case focused on 70 of them to provide the court with a manageable caseload.

During the investigation, prosecutors discovered a case that had tragic consequences.

In 2018, he wrote a message to 12-year-old Cimarron Thomas in West Virginia, USA. After complimenting her and taking a photo, he began his campaign of abuse.

He demanded more pictures of her and threatened to post her pictures online and expose her if she didn’t do what he said.

Out of fear, she didn’t tell anyone what happened to her.

McCartney continued to pursue her and came back for more photos, telling her she had to include her little sister.

She refused to do this and said she would kill herself. He set a countdown clock.

Cimarron shot herself in the head with her family’s legally owned firearm while still online with McCartney.

Her younger sister found her.

Tragically, Cimarron’s father, Ben, took his own life 18 months later. When he died, he didn’t know why Cimarron had taken hers.

In a statement read outside court Friday, Cimarron’s grandparents, Peggy and Dale Thomas, called on parents to “keep the doors open to communication about the evil of some people on the Internet.”

McCartney pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Cimarron Thomas Earlier this year.

On Friday, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said it had initially been contacted after Police Scotland reported that a 13-year-old girl had been kidnapped by an adult suspect believed to be living in Northern Ireland, using the pseudonym “a 13-year-old.” Girl.

PSNI Det Ch Supt Eamonn Corrigan welcomed the conviction and said McCartney was “nothing other than a disgusting child predator”.

He added that McCartney’s devices contained “tens of thousands of photos and videos of underage girls performing sexual acts while being blackmailed.”

The detective said that the victims were located in America, New Zealand and at least 28 other countries in cooperation with Homeland Security, the Prosecutor’s Office and the National Crime Agency.

“In my opinion there is only one place for McCartney and that is behind bars,” Det Ch Supt Corrigan said.

Police said McCartney was the first person in the UK to be convicted of manslaughter, even though the victim lived in a foreign jurisdiction.

McCartney “might as well have pulled the trigger himself,” Mr. Corrigan continued.

Catherine Kierans, acting head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s serious crime unit, said McCartney had caused “immeasurable harm”.

US Homeland Security added that McCartney deserved every minute of his sentence.

“We are grateful that our law enforcement partners in Northern Ireland saw fit to arrest and charge McCartney for his role in the girl’s death,” said Special Agent Derek W. Gordon.

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