An online predator who led an American girl and her father to take their own lives has been jailed for at least 20 years after the UK\u2019s largest \u201ccatfishing\u201d case.<\/p>\n
Warning: This article contains references to suicide and child sex abuse which readers may find distressing.<\/strong><\/p>\n Alexander McCartney, 26, previously admitted 185 charges<\/strong>, including the manslaughter of a girl who took her own life.<\/p>\n Police called him a \u201cdangerous, relentless, cruel paedophile\u201d who \u201cmay as well have pulled the trigger himself\u201d and said there were about 3,500 victims.<\/p>\n Devices seized from his bedroom contained hundreds of thousands of indecent photographs and videos of underage girls.<\/p>\n Belfast Crown Court heard victims were aged between 10 and 16 and based in the UK, USA, continental Europe, Australia and New Zealand.<\/p>\n McCartney, from south Armagh in Northern Ireland, used Snapchat and other sites to pose as someone else online, known as catfishing.<\/p>\n He pretended to be a young girl to persuade his victims to send images. He then blackmailed them into sending more explicit material.<\/p>\n Cimarron Thomas, 12, from West Virginia, shot herself with her father\u2019s gun<\/strong> instead of complying with his demands after he gave her an online countdown.<\/p>\n But there were more tragic repercussions.<\/p>\n Unable to live with the loss, her father Ben Thomas, a former US Army veteran, died by suicide 18 months later.<\/p>\n Former computer science student McCartney pleaded guilty to one count of manslaughter, 59 of blackmail, and 70 of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.<\/p>\n At his sentencing, the judge said his offending began at the age of 14.<\/p>\n \u2018Utterly remorseless\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n McCartney admitted dozens of charges related to making and distribution of indecent images of children and appeared \u201cutterly remorseless\u201d, said barrister David McDowell KC.<\/p>\n The prosecution said he deliberately targeted victims who were either gay or exploring their sexuality and \u201cdegraded and humiliated them\u201d.<\/p>\n The judge called the details \u201cexcruciating\u201d and much of what he did is too graphic and disturbing to detail.<\/p>\n McCartney told one girl he would send people to rape her if she didn\u2019t comply. In some instances, he demanded his victims involve younger siblings, or even family pets and objects.<\/p>\n One girl repeatedly said she would kill herself and that her mother was dying from cancer.<\/p>\n \u201cI do not give a shit about you or your mum,\u201d McCartney replied.<\/p>\n Girl shot herself after McCartney countdown<\/strong><\/p>\n In May 2018 and posing as \u2018Sarah\u2019, he messaged Cimarron Thomas at her family\u2019s farmhouse in the tiny US village of Bruceton and persuaded her to send a topless photograph.<\/p>\n When McCartney revealed he wasn\u2019t Sarah, he demanded more explicit pictures and threatened to send them to her father.<\/p>\n When she pleaded for him to stop, he told her to \u201cdry her eyes\u201d and involve her nine-year-old sister in sexually explicit material via webcam.<\/p>\n Belfast Crown Court heard that a police officer who reviewed the material said Cimarron was \u201cutterly distraught and sobbing\u201d.<\/p>\n The court also heard McCartney \u201ccounted down\u201d online from 20 to zero as he insisted on more pictures.<\/p>\n Cimarron refused and shot herself.<\/p>\n McCartney\u2019s cynical last message read: \u201cGoodbye and good luck.\u201d<\/p>\n Father couldn\u2019t forgive himself<\/strong><\/p>\n Cimarron\u2019s younger sister heard what she thought was a balloon popping but found her lying on her parents\u2019 bedroom floor. She died in hospital later that night.<\/p>\n Her father Ben couldn\u2019t forgive himself for leaving his handgun within reach and took his own life 18 months later.<\/p>\n A statement read in court from his wife, Stephanie, said he felt guilty about his daughter\u2019s death and \u201clost interest in life\u201d.<\/p>\n Cimarron\u2019s family couldn\u2019t understand why she killed herself until three years later when police found the online chat on McCartney\u2019s computer.<\/p>\n Read more from Sky News: In a statement, Cimarron\u2019s grandparents said: \u201cWe all have been devastated by our granddaughter\u2019s passing.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know that nothing that we do or say will bring her back. But if we can help another family to not have to go through what we did, something good could come out of her death.<\/p>\n \u201cParents, please keep the doors of communication open concerning the evil of some people online.\u201d<\/p>\n Detective Chief Superintendent Eamonn Corrigan, from the Police Service of Northern Ireland, said McCartney\u2019s sentence was a \u201cwarning to those operating online and hiding behind fake accounts and firewalls \u2013 you will be caught and you will face the full force of the law when you are\u201d.<\/p>\n Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n An online predator who led an American girl and her father to take their own…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5610,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Nazi-obsessed man guilty of trying to kill asylum seeker
Catfish victim on taking her pain to the screen<\/strong><\/p>\n