Life sentence for man over manslaughter, abuse offences
by Vincent Kearney, https://www.facebook.com/rtenews/ · RTE.ieA 26-year-old Armagh man who was the subject of one of the largest investigations in the world into the sexual extortion of children has been sentenced to a minimum of 20 years in prison for the manslaughter of a 12-year-old girl and more than 180 other offences relating to child abuse.
Alexander McCartney, from Lisummon Road outside Newry, pretended to be a teenage girl to target children across the world, a practice known as catfishing.
He pleaded guilty to a total of 185 offences involving 70 young girls who were aged between 10 and 16 when he targeted them via social media platforms, mostly Snapchat.
They included the manslaughter of Cimmaron Thomas from West Virginia in the US, who took her own life as a result of being blackmailed by him.
He was given a life sentence, with a minimum tariff of 20 years before he can be considered for release.
As McCartney has spent five years in prison on remand, he will serve at least another 15 before being considered for release.
It is the first time anywhere in the world that an abuser has been held accountable for a killing where the perpetrator and their victim never physically met.
He is also the first person to be sentenced in the UK for manslaughter which took place in another jurisdiction.
Police have estimated that the total number of his victims to be around 3,500.
The PSNI identified victims in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Britain, continental Europe, the US, Australia, New Zealand and at least 28 other countries.
McCartney sat in the dock in Belfast Crown Court with his head down as Mr Justice John O'Hara passed sentence.
The judge read out the long list of changes McCartney admitted, but said it was not necessary to go into the "full horrors" of the "sadism and depravity" of what was "a quite horrific case".
He told the court that McCartney had told one of his young victims that he would send people to her home to rape her if she did not follow his instructions.
The judge said McCartney had ignored repeated pleas for mercy from distressed young children and that when some of his victims said they would kill themselves or self-harm, he told them he did not care.
Mr Justice O'Hara said that to his knowledge there has not been a case where a defendant has used social media on an industrial scale to "inflict such terrible and catastrophic damage on young girls".
Describing the scale of the harm caused by McCartney as unprecedented, the judge said that in his judgment "it is truly difficult to think of a sexual deviant who poses a greater risk than this defendant".
The judge said the PSNI and law enforcement agencies across the world who had worked together to bring McCartney to justice were owed a debt of gratitude.
The sentencing hearing began at 2pm to accommodate victims and their families in different time zones across the world who watched via video link.
As McCartney has spent five years in prison on remand, he will serve at least another 15 before being considered for release in 2039.
The judge said he did not envy the task of the parole commissioners who will have to look in detail at this gruesome case.
Read more:
How online abuser destroyed US girl's life from his Armagh bedroom
Staying Safe: How to protect against catfishing
Appeal to parents after 'most depraved' catfish case
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