Vile online predator, 26, who drove young catfish victim to take her own life jailed over 185 charges involving 70 kids
A CATFISH paedo from Northern Ireland who targeted around 3,500 children in 30 countries — leading one girl to kill herself — was jailed for life today.
Alexander McCartney, 26, posed for six years as a teenage girl to befriend young females on Snapchat before making perverted demands, a was told.
The computer science student, who cops said was “abusing on an industrial scale”, admitted 185 charges involving 70 children as young as ten.
He contacted Cimarron Thomas, 12, from West Virginia, USA, in 2018 and groomed her into sending him a topless picture.
He then demanded she lure her sister, nine, into a sex act and threatened to send an intimate photo to her dad if she did not.
When she refused and threatened to kill herself, the twisted fiend began a countdown and wrote: “Goodbye and good luck.”
Cimarron shot herself with US Army veteran dad Ben Thomas’ gun during an online call to McCartney in May 2018.
Three minutes later she was found by her younger sister who thought she had heard a balloon pop.
She was taken to hospital where she was pronounced dead.
Her family had no clue why until police contacted them in 2021 with a transcript of the conversation they found on McCartney’s computer.
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Eighteen months later, Mr Thomas, 40, took his own life.
McCartney, from Newry, Co , on remand since his arrest in 2019, pleaded guilty to Cimarron’s manslaughter earlier this year.
VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT
Cimarron’s grandparents, Peggy and Dale Thomas, told of their agony in a victim impact statement read out in court today.
It said: “Our lives will never be the same. We didn’t get to see her graduate, walk down the aisle or have children.
“We have been robbed of those memories. Our lives have changed forever.”
Creep McCartney also admitted charges of blackmail, making and distributing indecent photos and inciting children to engage in sexual activity at Crown Court.
His victims were aged between ten and 16 and targeted through social media platforms.
The offences cover a period from 2013 to 2019. Victims were identified all over the world, as far away as Australia and New Zealand.
'SADISM AND DEPRAVITY'
McCartney sat with his head bowed in the dock during most of the sentencing hearing today.
He stood up as Mr Justice O’Hara handed down a life sentence, looked briefly at the judge and then down towards the floor.
The judge branded his offending as “sexploitation”, saying it involved “sadism and depravity”.
He said McCartney had subjected young girls to extreme “humiliation and degradation” and caused an “indisputably huge” level of harm to young girls across the world.
'SEXUAL DEVIANT'
He said: “There were young girls, with younger siblings, all over the world, whose childhoods have been scarred by this defendant.
“In many cases that fact may not be known to their adult carers.”
He added: “I find it hard to think of a sexual deviant who poses more risk than this defendant.”
Mr Justice O’Hara said he must serve 20 years behind bars before he can be considered for release.
Five years McCartney has already spent in custody will serve as part of the monster’s sentence.
It said: “Our lives will never be the same. We didn’t get to see her graduate, walk down the aisle or have children.
Cimarron’s grandparents, Peggy and Dale Thomas
The judge said: “The result is that he will be eligible for consideration for release by the Parole Commissioners, but not until 2039. I do not envy the commissioners having to reach their decision at that point.”
Evil McCartney used his technical knowledge as a computer science student to carry out his crimes.
Outside court, Det Chief Supt Eamonn Corrigan said McCartney’s offending — carried out from the bedroom of his childhood home — was on an “industrial scale”.
'DANGEROUS PAEDOPHILE'
The chief added: “McCartney is a dangerous, relentless, cruel paedophile. There was nothing that was going to stop him, apart from putting him in jail.”
Acting Head of NI’s Public Prosecution Service Serious Crime Unit, Catherine Kierans, said it was one of the “most distressing and prolific cases of child sexual abuse” they had ever dealt with.
'DAMAGE CAUSED IMMEASURABLE'
She declared: “The damage McCartney caused to so many young lives is immeasurable.
“All McCartney’s victims were young, innocent children. Some of the estimated 3,500 girls he targeted, who were as young as ten, were already struggling with identity and body image issues and had reached out for help on social media.
“He sought to exploit that vulnerability in the most shocking ways. Some children pleaded for him to stop the abuse but he callously continued, at times forcing the victims to involve younger children, some aged just four.”
And Ms Kierans told how the PPS worked closely with cops to establish McCartney “had a case to answer” for the manslaughter of Cimarron.
She added: “This new application of the law was rightly tested in court.
LEGAL FIRST
However, after legal argument, the trial judge agreed with the PPS and McCartney eventually pleaded guilty to killing the girl.
“We believe this to be the first time an abuser anywhere in the world has been held accountable for manslaughter where the victim and perpetrator have never met in person.”
McCartney has been on remand in Maghaberry Prison since 2019.
He posed on Snapchat as a teen girl and befriended vulnerable girls aged between ten and 16 who were gay or exploring their sexuality.
Once he had secured a picture from his victims, he would then reveal the “catfish” and blackmailed them into taking part in sex acts.
“The damage McCartney caused to so many young lives is immeasurable.
Acting Head of NI’s Public Prosecution Service Serious Crime Unit, Catherine Kierans
McCartney told one girl he would get people to go to her house to rape her if she did not comply.
He was arrested several times but continued to offend until he was remanded in custody.
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A source close to the investigation told us: “His depravity knew no bounds. These children were in their own houses, their own bedrooms, their place of safety. They were often abused with parents in the house.
It was unimaginable, your worst nightmare.”
