Alexander McCartney: UK’s biggest abuser who targeted 3,500 kids online jailed for 20 years
Alexander McCartney, a 26-year-old man from Northern Ireland, was sentenced to 20 years in prison
Alexander McCartney, a 26-year-old man from Northern Ireland, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for abusing at least 70 children online. He admitted to 185 charges including blackmail, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and producing and distributing indecent images of children.
A police statement said his victims included girls aged between 10 and 16, who hailed from the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
According to prosecutors, he had targeted more than 3,500 children online and led one to even commit suicide.
Thisis one of the biggest “catfishing” or sexual extortion cases in the world.
According to media reports, McCartney would masquerade as a young girl on Snapchat to befriend other children and would then resort to blackmailing them. Justice O’Hara, while pronouncing judgement Friday (Oct 25), said “In my judgment, it is truly difficult to think of a sexual deviant who poses a greater risk than this defendant.”
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“There has not been a case such as the present where the defendant has used social media on an industrial scale to inflict such terrible and catastrophic damage on young girls, up to and including the death of a 12-year-old girl. The defendant was remorseless. He ignored multiple opportunities to stop he ignored multiple pleas for mercy. He lied and lied and then lied again,” the judge noted.
McCartney has been sentenced to life in prison on the counts of a girl’s manslaughter and on counts of forcing girls into engaging in sexual activities, including penetration.
Additionally, he faces several other sentences ranging from 10 years “in each count” for 45 counts of various degrees of sexual crimes.
McCartney further faces imprisonment for six years in each count for 29 counts of possessing indecent images, and 10 years in each count for 58 counts of blackmail.
“This is a quite horrific case. Submissions were made on [McCartney’s] behalf about various mitigating factors … Those mitigating factors are few in number and limited in nature,” the judge noted.
(With inputs from agencies)