Online predator gets life in UK's biggest 'catfishing' case

A court in the United Kingdom has sentenced a 26-year-old man to life in prison after being found guilty of 185 charges, including the manslaughter of a girl who took her own life and online child sexual abuse and blackmail.

Alexander McCartney posed as a teenage girl to befriend young females around the world on messaging apps before blackmailing them, the 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 during online contact with McCartney.

McCartney, from South Armagh in Northern Ireland, admitted the charges involving 70 children and was told he would spend at least 20 years behind bars.

McCartney pretended to be a teenage girl

The court heard that the computer science student groomed victims around the world on messaging sites including Snapchat and Instagram.

The prosecution said McCartney made his victims believe they were talking online to a teenage girl of similar age.

He would then encourage them to send indecent images or engage in sexual activity via a webcam or mobile phone, which he would then share online.

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

He sometimes forced his victims to involve siblings as young as three in the abuse.

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 sex acts he had coerced her into.

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

McCartney previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter relating to Cimarron's death.

Although the charges related to 70 children, police said that McCartney was believed to have targeted around 3,500 victims in around 30 countries.

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

McCartney on Friday also admitted 59 counts of blackmail, dozens of charges related to making and distributing indecent photographs and scores of charges 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 sentence was announced.

He was led away in handcuffs.

Reaction to McCartney's sentencing

Detective Chief Superintendent Eamonn Corrigan of the Police Service of Northern Ireland said McCartney was a "disgusting child predator" whose offending had been on an "industrial scale."

"Sitting in his childhood bedroom in Newry, he began his offending as a late teenager and built what can only be described as a pedophile enterprise," he told reporters outside court.

"McCartney is a dangerous, relentless, cruel pedophile," he added.

In the case of Cimarron Thomas, Corrigan told reporters that McCartney had even started a countdown when she threatened to kill herself with a legally owned firearm, telling her: "I don't care."

"He may as well have pulled the trigger himself," he added. "There's only one place for him, that's behind bars."

mm/lo (AFP, Reuters)