Alexander McCartney, a 26-year-old from Northern Ireland, has been sentenced to life in prison for his involvement in the UK’s most extensive “catfishing” case. McCartney admitted to 185 charges involving 70 children, including the manslaughter of a young girl who took her own life as a result of his actions, reported news agency AFP.
Law enforcement officials described McCartney as a “dangerous, relentless, cruel paedophile” who had approximately 3,500 victims aged between 10 and 16, across 30 countries, including the UK, USA, continental Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. The court heard that he used Snapchat to impersonate others online, a practice known as catfishing, to manipulate his victims.
Posing as a young girl, McCartney convinced his victims to send him images and then blackmailed them into providing more explicit material. One of his victims, 12-year-old Cimarron Thomas from West Virginia, tragically took her own life with her father’s gun instead of complying with McCartney’s demands. The devastating loss led to further tragedy when her father, Ben Thomas, a former US Army veteran, died by suicide 18 months later.
McCartney, a former computer science student, pleaded guilty to “one count of manslaughter, 59 of blackmail, and 70 of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.” During the sentencing, the judge revealed that McCartney’s offending began when he was just 14 years old.
Cimarron Thomas, the 12-year-old girl from West Virginia, USA, took her own life in May 2018. She made this devastating decision to avoid complying with McCartney’s demands, which involved forcing her to engage her younger sister in sexual acts.
The aftermath of this heartbreaking event led to another tragedy. Ben Thomas, Cimarron’s father, was overwhelmed with grief and died by suicide 18 months later.
During the court proceedings, it was revealed that McCartney often targeted girls who expressed uncertainties about their sexual identity and body image. He would manipulate them into sending a photo, and then proceed to the notes section of his phone, where he had a pre-written statement ready to be copied and pasted into the conversation.
The message would typically say: “alright i used a fake camera snap app. i have your face pic and nudes. You are gonna do as i say for tonight and then ill leave after. But if you dont them im upoading everything online for everyone to see. understand?”
In multiple instances, McCartney would threaten to share the images with other pedophiles or coerce his victims into involving family pets and objects in the abusive acts.