A court in the United Kingdom has sentenced a 26-year-old man to life imprisonment after he was found guilty of 185 charges, including the manslaughter of a girl who took her own life, and online child sexual exploitation and blackmail.

The court in Belfast, Northern Ireland, heard Alexander McCartney pretended to be a teenage girl to befriend young women on messaging apps before blackmailing them around the world.

One of his victims, 12-year-old Cimarron Thomas from the US state of West Virginia, committed suicide with his father’s gun during an internet connection with McCartney in 2018.

McCartney, from South Armagh, Northern Ireland, pleaded guilty to 70 child charges and was told he would spend at least 20 years behind bars.

McCartney acted like a teenage girl

The court heard the computer science student groomed victims around the world on messaging sites such as Snapchat and Instagram.

The prosecution said McCartney misled his victims into believing they were talking online with a teenage girl of a similar age.

He would then encourage them to send indecent images or engage in sexual activity via a webcam or mobile phone, which he would then share online.

The footage was later used to threaten his victims, the court was told.

He sometimes forced his victims to include their three-year-old siblings in the abuse.

A mugging victim and his father committed suicide

One of his victims, Cimarron Thomas, died by suicide in May 2018 after McCartney demanded that she involve her 12-year-old younger sister in sex acts he forced her on.

Eighteen months later, his distraught father, Ben Thomas, also died by suicide.

McCartney previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter in Cimarron’s death.

Although the charges relate to 70 children, police said McCartney is believed to have targeted around 3,500 victims in nearly 30 countries.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78QgJW0191I2q3Pe

The court has previously heard that McCartney’s victims were in the UK, continental Europe, the US, Australia and New Zealand.

McCartney also pleaded guilty Friday to 59 racketeering charges, dozens of charges related to taking and distributing indecent photographs, and charges of encouraging minors to engage in sexual activity.

McCartney sat with his head bowed as the judge recounted his crimes and stood up with his eyes closed when the sentence was announced.

He was taken away in handcuffs.

Reaction to McCartney’s sentence

Detective Superintendent Eamonn Corrigan, of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, said McCartney was a “disgusting child predator” whose crimes were on an “industrial scale”.

“He started offending as a teenager, sitting in his childhood bedroom in Newry, and set up what can only be described as a pedophilia enterprise,” he told reporters outside court.

“McCartney is a dangerous, relentless, cruel pedophile,” he added.

In the Cimarron Thomas case, Corrigan told reporters that McCartney even started counting down when he threatened to kill him with a legally owned firearm and told him, “I don’t care.”

“He may have pulled the trigger himself,” he added. “There’s only one place for him and that’s behind bars.”

mm/lo (AFP, Reuters)