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

Alexander McCartney, a resident of Northern Ireland who molested over 3,000 children online, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday (October 25) with a minimum term of 20 years in prison. The 26-year-old catfisher has been described as one of the world’s most prolific child sexual abusers.

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

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

Alexander McCartney, prolific British catfish killer

Alexander McCartney grew up near Newry in Northern Ireland. According to the indictment, in 2019 he was a computer science student at the University of Ulster BBC.

McCartney was interested in games and was described as “introverted and socially awkward”.

The source said BBC News“He didn’t interact much with people outside his friend group.
Maybe he was on the edge of things, but he had friends who didn’t seem to know anything about it.

A resident who lived near his home said McCartney “seemed like a nice, kind and intelligent young man. There is nothing extraordinary about it.”

The Many Crimes of Alexander McCartney

McCartney proved that he is not ordinary. He pretended to be a teenager to befriend other girls on Snapchat, then began abusing and blackmailing them.

According to Guardianhe is considered the UK’s biggest catfisher.
Catfishing occurs when a person creates a false identity in order to deceive and take advantage of another person.

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

According to BBC In his report, he convinced victims to think they were talking to a girl of a similar age on social media. He then encouraged them to share indecent photos. Once he got the photo, he revealed ”
catfish” and blackmail 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 molest and harass already terrified and abused children.”

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

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

“Sitting in his childhood bedroom in Newry, he began committing crimes in his late teens and created what can only be described as a pedophile enterprise,” Corrigan told reporters outside Belfast Crown Court.

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

Judge John O’Hara, who handed down the predator’s sentence, noted that in some cases McCartney forced the victims to involve younger siblings, including children aged three to five.

He made such a request to 12-year-old American Cimarron Thomas, who took her own life in 2018. McCartney instructed her to include her younger sister in the sexual acts he forced her to perform, but Cimarron refused, he reports. AFP.

He threatened to share intimate photos of her with her father, Ben Thomas, a U.S. Army veteran.
An investigation three years later revealed that Cimarron shot herself three minutes after the blackmail conversation.

During the violence, the visibly distressed teenager told McCartney she would contact the police and take her own life. He cruelly told her he didn’t care and even started counting down until he would share the photos with her Guardian report.

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

Cimarron’s body was found by her nine-year-old sister. Eighteen months later, her grieving father Ben also committed suicide, not knowing why his daughter took her life.

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Charges against Alexander McCartney

In announcing McCartney’s sentence, Judge John O’Hara said he knew of no case “in which the defendant used social media on an industrial scale to inflict such terrible and catastrophic harm on young girls, up to and including the death of a 12-year-old girl.” .

“The accused acted without remorse. He ignored numerous opportunities to stop, ignored numerous pleas for mercy. He lied and lied and then lied again,” he added.

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

Judge O’Hara said that even after his third arrest, the former computer science student continued to offend “in an even more sinister, dramatic and terrifying way.”

McCartney pleaded guilty to 185 charges, including murder and blackmail involving 70 children, creating and distributing indecent images and inciting children to engage in sexual activity, including penetration.

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

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

McCartney was sentenced to life in prison for his crimes. According to prosecutors, he targeted 3,500 girls, some as young as 10.

According to reports, it was a call from a 13-year-old girl from Scotland in 2019 that led to the final capture of the predator. BBC.

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

“This is a crime. You are not guilty. Please talk to a trusted adult,” she said.

According to AFPKierans asked parents and guardians to talk to their children to protect them online.
“This disclosure of these issues will allow us to break the cycle of people abusing secrecy,” she said.

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

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

With the participation of the agency