Online predator gains life in UK’s biggest ‘catching’ case – DW – 25/10/2024

A UK court has sentenced a 26-year-old man to life in prison after finding him guilty of 185 charges, including the murder of a girl who took her own life and sexual abuse and online blackmail.

Alexander McCartney posed as a teenager to befriend young women from around the world via instant messaging and then blackmailed them, a court in Belfast, Northern Ireland, heard.

One of his victims, 12-year-old Cimarron Thomas from West Virginia in the United States, took her own life in 2018 with her father’s gun while contacting McCartney online.

McCartney, from South Armagh, Northern Ireland, pleaded guilty to charges relating to 70 children and was told he would spend at least 20 years behind bars.

McCartney pretended to be a teenager

The court heard the computer science student groomed victims around the world via messaging services including Snapchat and Instagram.

Prosecutors said McCartney told his victims they were talking to a teenager of a similar age online.

He then encouraged them to send indecent images or engage in sexual activity via webcam or mobile phone, which he then shared online.

The court was told the images were then used to threaten his victims.

He sometimes forced his victims to engage siblings as young as three years old in the molestation.

One extortion victim and her father took their own lives

One of his victims, Cimarron Thomas, died by suicide in May 2018 after McCartney demanded that the 12-year-old involve her younger sister in sexual acts he forced her to engage in.

Eighteen months later, her distraught father Ben Thomas also committed suicide.

McCartney previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with Cimarron’s death.

While the allegations involved 70 children, police said McCartney was believed to have targeted around 3,500 victims in around 30 countries.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78QgJW0191I2q3Pe

The court previously heard McCartney’s victims were located in the UK, continental Europe, the US, Australia and New Zealand.

McCartney also pleaded guilty on Friday to 59 counts of blackmail, dozens of counts of creating and distributing indecent photos, and dozens of counts of inciting children to engage in sexual activity.

McCartney sat with his head down as the judge described his crimes, and stood up with his eyes closed when the verdict was announced.

He was led away in handcuffs.

Reaction to McCartney’s verdict

Chief Inspector Eamonn Corrigan, of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, said McCartney was a “disgusting child predator” whose crimes were on an “industrial scale”.

“Sitting in his childhood bedroom in Newry, he began committing crimes as a teenager and built what can only be described as a pedophile enterprise,” he told reporters outside the court.

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

In the case of Cimarron, Thomas Corrigan told reporters that McCartney even started the countdown when she threatened to kill herself with a legal firearm, telling her, “I don’t care.”

“He might as well have pulled the trigger himself,” he added. “There is only one place for him: behind bars.”

mm/lo (AFP, Reuters)