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Although researchers believe as many as 3,500 children were targeted; this case focused on 70 of these in order to provide the court with a manageable caseload.

In 2019, it was confirmed that due to the number of potential victims, the Police Service of Northern Ireland had established a “special team” to specifically examine the McCartney case.

The investigation had stretched as far as New Zealand and identifying the alleged victims had become a “huge task”, an earlier court heard.

The court heard 12 computer devices were initially seized following McCartney’s arrest.

It was announced that these devices have the capacity to imitate other computers and allow the operator to communicate with four times more victims.

“Each emulator has 760 folders, and each of these folders identifies a victim,” a prosecutor said.

“There is a small sample that has been brought forward for prosecution, this is just the tip of the iceberg.”

A total of 64 devices were found at his home in the rural Lissummon Road area outside Newry during four separate raids.

These devices contained thousands of exploit images.