A Northern Irish man was sentenced to a minimum of 20 years in prison on Friday after being found guilty by a British court of what has been described as the worst crime “catfish fishing” case in the country. Alex McCartney, 26, had pleaded guilty to manslaughter in a court in Northern Ireland earlier this year after a young American girl, who was among the thousands of alleged victims he blackmailed online, died by suicide.
McCartney had admitted in court to a total of 185 charges involving 70 child victims – including blackmailinciting a child to engage in sexual activity and producing and distributing indecent images of children. According to the British news agency Press Association, he was also blamed for the death of 12-year-old Cimarron Thomas in West Virginia.
Thomas, who lived with her mother, father and siblings in West Virginia, died by suicide in May 2018. During her online interactions with McCartney, authorities say he tried to coerce her into sending graphic images involving a younger sibling.
McCartney was already under investigation at the time and was about to be charged by British investigators when authorities discovered Cimarron’s identity and the circumstances of her death, CBS News’ partner network BBC News reported Friday.
Thomas’ father, a U.S. Army veteran, died by suicide 18 months after his daughter, without any knowledge of the circumstances behind Cimarron’s death.
Jim Gamble, a former senior British police officer specializing in child safety, told BBC News it was a ‘shocking case’.
“The sheer scale of it and the horrific nature of the harm being done to these young girls makes it one of the worst I have ever seen,” Gamble said, adding: “Don’t look at this and think that this is very rare happens.”
Detective Chief Inspector Eamonn Corrigan of the Police’s Northern Ireland Crime Operations Department issued a statement on Friday calling McCartney “nothing but a disgusting child predator who poses as young girls online to prey on his victims, as young as four years old.” to groom, manipulate and sexually abuse. , to gratify his own sexual perversions and those of other online child molesters.”
McCartney’s crimes took place between 2014 and 2019, when police believe he affected around 3,500 victims, mainly through Snapchat, around the world, including in Australia, New Zealand and the US, according to the Press Association. The case against him at Belfast Crown Court focused on 70 child victims, including Thomas.
There was no immediate response to Friday’s verdict against Snapchat’s McCartney. The social messaging app was suspect in September of features that make it a favorite platform of sex criminals targeting children, in a lawsuit filed by New Mexico against its parent company, Snap Inc.
An undercover investigation by the state found that Snapchat “has created an environment where predators can easily target children through extortion schemes and other forms of sexual abuse,” Attorney General Raúl Torrez said in a news release.
In a statement responding to the New Mexico case, Snap said the app was designed “as a place to interact with a close circle of friends, with built-in safety bars,” and that there were “intentional design choices to make it difficult for strangers to identify minors.” discover on our service.”
“We continue to evolve our security mechanisms and policies, from deploying advanced technology to detect and block certain activities, to banning friendships with suspicious accounts, to working with law enforcement and government agencies, and much more,” said the company. it continued to work with “industry, government and law enforcement to share information and devise stronger defenses.”