BELFAST Oct 26 — Irishman Alexander McCartney was handed a life sentence yesterday for 185 charges of online child sexual abuse and blackmail related to “catfishing” attacks, one of which led to the suicide of a 12-year-old American girl in her own home a whole continent away from Europe.
The BBC reported today that the life sentence means a minimum of 20 years in prison and that McCartney will qualify for consideration of release in 2039 as he has spent over five years on remand at Maghaberry Prison.
You probably have questions about this crime, the people involved, and the pursuit of justice. Let’s do it one at a time.
First, what is catfishing, and why is it called that?
Catfishing is the act of creating a fake online identity to gain the trust of others into forming a relationship, often for manipulation or exploitation in a sexual way.
The term gained popular use as a verb for deception from the 2010 documentary titled Catfish directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman that talked about these kinds of fraudulent relationships.
So who is Alex McCartney and what exactly was his crime?
He is a 26-year-old computer science student who grew up in rural North Ireland and described by the BBC as the most prolific child sex abuser in the UK, believed responsible for over 3,000 cases.
In a report today, the BBC has cited several unnamed sources from McCartney’s former schoolmates at Newry High School, the Southern Regional College in Newry, Ulster University, and residential neighbourhood who described him as soft-spoken, introverted, pleasant, intelligent, socially awkward, affable as well as “quiet and didn’t really get involved with the rest of the class”.
He is believed to have started his catfishing activities around 2016.
He pretended to be a teenage girl on social media platforms, mainly Snapchat but also Instagram, to get closer to young girls and encourage them to send nude or sexual images of themselves or their relatives and friends through a webcam or mobile cameras, which he then uploaded online and used to blackmail the children into a sharing more indecent content.
The BBC reported that he sometimes forced his underaged victims to involve siblings as young as three in the vicious abuse.
He was first charged in 2019 when he was 21 and studying at the Ulster University in Belfast.
His online persona appeared to be a total contrast to how he was in person, with the BBC reporting prosecutors saying McCartney’s offending was on an “industrial scale” as he would force his victims aged between 10 and 12 to involve even younger children
The BBC reported Catherine Kierans, who was the acting head of Northern Ireland Public Prosecution Service’s serious crime unit in 2019, describing McCartney as being so depraved that he offended “around the clock”.
The extent of his crime was on such a scale that prosecutors had to be selective with the charges.
“We couldn’t put 3,000 charges on the indictment.
“In the end, there were about 200 charges [relating to around 70 victims] which is probably one of the largest indictments that we’ve seen in Northern Ireland,” Kierans was quoted as saying.
How was McCartney outed?
According to the BBC, it was a phone call from a 13-year-old girl in Scotland to the police in early 2019 that got the ball rolling.
The first phone call led to an urgent investigation by the Police Service of Northern Ireland in March 2019 who succeeded in tracing the catfish messages to McCartney’s home address on Lissummon Road in Newry where they arrested him and seized 64 devices that held hundreds of thousands of indecent photos and videos of underaged girls performing sexual acts under duress.
“Some of the children had raised the alarm, which helped police to actually identify him in the first place.
“But some of the children, until police knocked the door, they had never told anyone what they’d been through,” Kierans was quoted as saying.
What about the American girl who died, and her family?
One of McCartney’s many victims was 12-year-old Cimarron Thomas from West Virginia who reportedly shot herself at home with her father’s gun while the Irishman was telling her to send him indecent images of her nine-year-old sister.
The same sister discovered Cimarron’s body in the bedroom, after hearing what she described as a balloon pop.
The BBC reported that their father, Ben Thomas, a former US soldier, also committed suicide 18 months after Cimarron’s death in 2018 without ever learning about her abuse or why she took her own life.
Many of McCartney’s other child victims remain unidentified despite exhaustive efforts by police.
“McCartney’s crimes have harmed thousands of children and left them and their families dealing with the traumatic aftermath.
“Their courage stands in stark contrast to his cowardice in targeting vulnerable young girls,” Kierans told the BBC.
*If you suspect child abuse, call the following hotlines for free and confidential support: Talian Kasih at 15999 or WhatsApp 019-2615999 (24/7); Talian BuddyBear at 1800-18-2327(BEAR) (noon-midnight daily); and One Crisis Centre (24/7) Wilayah Persekutuan at 03-26155555 (Kuala Lumpur General Hospital), 03-61454333 (Sungai Buloh Hospital) or 03-83124200 (Putrajaya Hospital).
**If you are experiencing sexual violence, the following hotlines offer free and confidential support: Talian Kasih at 15999 or WhatsApp 019-2615999 (24/7); All Women’s Action Society at 016-2374221 / 016-2284221 (9.30am-5.30pm); and Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) at 03-30008858 or SMS/WhatsApp TINA 018-9888058 (24/7)
***If you are lonely, distressed, or having negative thoughts, Befrienders offers free and confidential support 24 hours a day. A full list of Befrienders contact numbers and state operating hours is available here: www.befrienders.org.my/centre-in-malaysia. There are also free hotlines for young people: Talian Kasih at 15999 (24/7); Talian BuddyBear at 1800-18-2327(BEAR)(daily 12pm-12am); Mental Health Psychosocial Support Service (03-2935 9935 or 014-322 3392); and Jakim’s Family, Social and Community Care Centre (WhatsApp 0111-959 8214).
