TWELVE-year-old Cimarron Thomas was just like any other curious pre-teenager exploring the world around her, spending hours in her room listening to Katy Perry and watching Netflix.
So when she killed herself with her father's handgun at her home in West Virginia in May 2018, her devastated family were blindsided, unaware that she had become caught in a cruel web of deception spun by the UK's most prolific catfish abuser.
Sick , of Newry, Northern Ireland, was today jailed for manslaughter and offences relating to blackmailing over 70 victims in the UK, Europe, America and New Zealand.
He was given a life sentence with a minimum of 20 years by judge Mr Justice O'Hara, who told Belfast Crown Court that the 26-year-old used social media on "an industrial scale" to target young girls.
Shattered by the loss of his daughter and his guilt at storing his gun where she was able to access it, Cimarron's ex-Army veteran dad Ben, 39, took his own life 20 months after her death in January 2020.
As his wife Stephanie struggled to cope with the enormity of the tragedy, a year later a phone call came from 3,500 miles away that would destroy the family all over again.
Police explained how McCartney blackmailed the youngster into sending a topless picture on Snapchat - then demanded she lure her younger sister into a sex act or he would send the image to her dad.
Ashamed and feeling trapped, Cimarron warned her tormentor she would kill herself - and he callously launched a countdown.
The link was only discovered as police investigated twisted computer student McCartney's devices after he posed as a young girl to try and blackmail a teenager in Scotland.
McCartney’s modus operandi was simple - he posed as a teen girl to befriend youngsters on social media, then used images they sent him to demand more.
It is a story that will send a chill down the spine of every parent in the UK as the numbers of children falling victim to sextortion rises every year.
Figures show that 176 youngsters were targeted in 2023 - up from 21 the previous year - but experts believe there are hundreds more who are too ashamed to come forward.
Cimarron’s family and friends are calling for McCartney to be extradited to the US where it is likely he would be given a longer sentence in a tougher jail.
A family friend exclusively told The Sun: “Cimarron was such a sweet girl. She would have been really embarrassed by the threats to send a topless picture to her dad.
“She was on the verge of becoming a beautiful young woman like her mum Stephanie.
“The family lives in a really tiny place where everyone knows everyone and it’s quite an innocent life and rural upbringing so maybe Cimarron wasn’t as aware of the dangers of people like this man.
"But then it’s something you read about in the paper that happens to other people’s kids - you just don’t expect it, do you?
“When Cimarron died it was a total mystery why she would kill herself and Ben just couldn’t cope with it. He’d been a soldier in Afghanistan after the 9/11 terror attack in 2001 and her death really hit him hard.
“Stephanie and Cimarron’s little sister have been supported by the wider family as much as possible but her mum is a quiet person who has almost shut down after losing her and Ben. She finds it very, very hard to talk about.
“The family are furious that McCartney wasn’t charged with murder because that’s what he’s done - he’s killed this little girl. He might have done it from thousands of miles away but the result is the same.
“He should have faced justice in America. It would have been better if he’d been extradited here where he wouldn't be sitting in some cushy British jail."
Close to her nine-year-old sister, Cimarron harboured dreams of becoming a murder detective and her teachers described the bright, hard-working girl as a favourite pupil.
An uncle of Cimarron told another publication: “He might as well have pulled the trigger myself and killed both my niece and brother.
“That man has torn the family apart. He should have been charged with murder and spend the rest of his life in prison.
“It’s been so hard for all the family to come to terms with what he did. We have all struggled.”
McCartney's victims range from age 10 to 16 and were targeted over six years from 2013, mostly on Snapchat.
In some cases he made victims involve younger siblings and, on one occasion, forced a girl to involve a dog in a depraved act.
Vile McCartney told one victim he knew where she lived and, if she didn’t do what he said, he would send people to her house to rape her.
Cimarron’s ordeal began in May 2018 when she accepted a friend request from McCartney on Snapchat, believing she was another teenager.
Within hours the pair were exchanging messages, confiding the sort of secrets and body issues that young girls worry about.
He might as well have pulled the trigger myself and killed both my niece and brother
Cimarron's uncle
After being flattered about her body shape, Cimarron sent a topless image to her new ‘friend’ - and McCartney revealed his real identity.
Over four days he demanded she send him explicit images.
When Cimarron refused, he told her to “dry your eyes and look cute for me.”
At Belfast Crown Court, prosecutor David McDowell QC described in gut-wrenching detail how Cimarron begged McCartney to stop.
When she told him she would rather kill herself, he launched a countdown, telling her: “Goodbye and Good luck.”
The court heard Cimarron’s sister later heard a sound from her parents bedroom that sounded like a "balloon popping.”
Her sister was found dead, lying next to her dad's Heckler and Koch.
The safeguarding experts explained that parents don't need to be online experts.
They have provided resources and advice to help support parents and children navigating the online world.
If your child asks you a question you don’t know the answer to, or speaks to you about a negative experience they had online, here are some of things you could do:
Mr McDowell said McCartney “degraded and humiliated” victims and said the harm he had caused was "unquantifiable."
Previous court hearings were told the investigation into the catfisher started in 2018 amid a report made to police in Scotland that a girl was being blackmailed on Snapchat.
Cops in Northern Ireland - who had previously searched McCartney’s home when he first came on their radar in 2016 - raided his house and took away his computer and mobile phone.
They found thousands of images of young girls in “various states of dress and undress, performing various sexual acts.”
McCartney pled guilty to one count of manslaughter, 59 of blackmail and 70 of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, along with dozens of charges related to the making and distribution of indecent images of children.
The prosecution, who called him “utterly remorseless,” said he targeted girls who were either gay or exploring their sexuality.
Cimarron’s heartbroken family issued a victim impact statement to the court, revealing their devastation at the little girl's tragic death.
“Our lives will never be the same again,"; it read.
“We didn’t get to see her graduate, walk down the aisle or have children. We have been robbed and our lives have been changed forever.”
