by A British man at the center of one of the world’s biggest catfishing investigations has been jailed for at least 20 years after admitting 185 charges relating to 70 children.
Alexander McCartney, 26, made himself look like a teenager for befriending young women on Snapchat before blackmailing them.
Cimarron Thomas, 12, from West Virginia in the United States took her own life in May 2018 rather than comply with McCartney’s demands on her to involve her younger sister in sexual acts.
Cimarron’s heartbroken father, Ben, died by suicide 18 months later, never knowing what had led his daughter to take her own life.
Sentencing McCartney to life at Belfast Crown Court on Friday, Judge O’Hara said he must serve 20 years in prison before he can be considered for release.
He told the court that the five years McCartney had already spent in custody would be part of his sentence.
“The result is that he will be eligible for consideration for release by the parole commissioners, but not until 2039,” he said.
“I don’t envy the commissioners having to make their decision at that point.”
He told Belfast Crown Court: “To my knowledge, there has never been a case like this where a defendant used social media on an industrial scale to cause horrific and devastating damage to young girls up to and including death. A 12-year-old girl.
“The defendant was relentless. He ignored multiple opportunities to stop. He ignored multiple pleas for mercy. He lied and lied and then lied again.”
The judge added: “In my judgment, it is very difficult to think of a sexual orientation that carries a greater risk than this defendant.”
McCartney previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with Cimarron’s death.
He also admitted 59 counts of blackmail, numerous charges of making and distributing indecent photographs, and scores of charges of inciting children to engage in sexual activity.
In a statement following McCartney’s sentencing, Cimarron Thomas’ grandparents said: “We are all devastated by the death of our granddaughter.
“We know that nothing we do or say will bring her back.
“But if we can help another family not have to go through what we did, something good could come out of her death.
“Parents, please keep the doors of communication open regarding the evil of some people online.”
McCartney first contacted Cimarron four days before her death and blackmailed her into sending images.
She believed the ordeal was over, but he contacted her again on May 10. The PSNI recovered the online conversation between the pair.
Cimarron repeatedly asked McCartney to leave her alone while he forced her to send additional pictures. At one point she said: “I don’t like this.”
When she told McCartney she would call the police, he replied “IDC” (I don’t care).
Known victims around the world
Belfast Crown Court heard that a PSNI officer who reviewed the matter said Cimarron was “extremely distressed and crying at the time”.
McCartney demanded she send pictures of her nine-year-old sister. She replied: “Please, not her.”
When Cimarron continued to refuse McCartney’s demands, he began counting down 30 seconds before threatening to post pictures of her online.
He told her: “I’m posting, bye. First Ben Thomas (father of Cimarron). He should see the pix first.”
Cimarron replied: “No, I will obey.”
The conversation then stopped. Three minutes later, Cimarron’s younger sister found her body lying on the floor of her parents’ bedroom.
She picked up her sister’s phone and hit the panic button, which prompted a 911 call. Cimarron died later that night at the hospital.
Victims have been identified worldwide, including in Australia, New Zealand and the US.
McCartney, originally from Lisboa Road outside Newry, Northern Ireland, used his technical knowledge as a computer science student to commit his crimes.
He was convicted of the bedroom in his childhood home.
One investigator described the scale of McCartney’s offenses as a “pedophilic enterprise”.
Police believe he may have targeted 3,500 children from around the world.
McCartney first came to the attention of police in northern Ireland in 2016 when he was arrested in connection with indecent images of children found on his electronic devices. At this point, no victims have been identified and he has been released. He was arrested again for similar offenses in 2018.
Despite police attention and bail conditions, McCartney continued to offend. He replaced phones and laptops that were captured.
In March 2019, Police Scotland contacted the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) regarding a report of a 13-year-old girl being groomed by an adult suspected of living in Northern Ireland.
When police raided his home, he was in the middle of an offense and had Snapchat open on one of his phones. Devices seized from his bedroom were found to contain hundreds of thousands of indecent photographs and videos of underage girls.
‘You will do as I say’
It targeted young girls who were vulnerable or in doubt about their sexual identity and body image. He would use this vulnerability to convince them to send a photo.
Once he had the image, McCartney would go to the notes section of his phone where he had a pre-prepared statement that he would cut and paste into the conversation.
The message would usually say: “Okay, I used a fake camera snap app. I have your face pic and nudes. You will do as I say tonight and I will leave afterwards. But if you don’t, I’m uploading everything online for everyone to see. understand?”
Although McCartney promised to leave the victims alone after one night, he often returned later to continue the abuse.
He would pressure them to send more images or engage in sexual activity online, threatening to share the images with other pedophiles. He forced some children to abuse younger siblings or forced them to bring in family pets and things.
On one occasion, it only took McCartney nine minutes to meet a 12-year-old girl for the first time until he groomed, blackmailed and abused her.
He told one victim who contested his claims that he would ask people to come to her house and rape her. Another who threatened to go to the police was told: “I’m safe, I’ve been doing this for the last year.”
