‘Depraved’ catfish blackmailed scores of children into taking part in sex acts

A court has heard details of the ‘depraved’ actions of a Northern Irish man at the centre of one of UK’s biggest catfishing cases.

Alexander McCartney, 26, pleaded guilty to manslaughter after a 12-year-old girl from outside the UK took her own life while being blackmailed by him.

McCartney is accused of catfishing at least 70 children, mostly girls between the age of 10 to 16, and blackmailing them into committing horrific acts of sexual degradation.

He has previously admitted 185 charges but at a sentencing hearing in Belfast, the court was told there are ‘many, many more victims’ who have not been identified.

Catfishing involves using a fake identity online to befriend and exploit victims.

McCartney encountered his victims by posing as a teenage girl on Snapchat and befriending vulnerable girls who were said to be struggling with their sexuality from around the world.

After gaining their trust through flattery, he convinced them to send him compromising pictures of themselves, before blackmailing the children into committing humiliating sexual acts by threatening to publish the images online.

Some of his sick demands included forcing victims to perform sexual acts on their young siblings, and on at least one occasion, even a dog.

The offences took place between 2014 to 2019 with victims being identified all over the world, including Australia, New Zealand and the US.

His victims tended to be young girls between the ages of 10 to 16, and on one occasion he threatened to come to the girl’s house and rape her if she did not comply.

McCartney, who started offending when he was just a teen, has been on remand in Maghaberry Prison since 2019.

He has pleaded guilty to manslaughter, 59 counts of blackmail, dozens of charges related to making and distributing indecent photographs and scores of charges of inciting children to engage in sexual activity.

Prosecuting barrister David McDowell KC told the court that the offending McCartney had amounted to at least 70 victims.

Judge Mr Justice O’Hara asked if 70 was a minimum number.

Mr McDowell said: ‘There are many, many more victims, in all likelihood. The sentencing exercise is confined to those victims, but the suspected number is much, much higher than that.’

He said McCartney’s victims had been ‘degraded and humiliated’ and the harm he caused them was ‘unquantifiable’.

Mr MacDowell added: ‘He targeted young girls who were either gay or exploring their sexuality with other girls by posing as a young teenage girl who was struggling with body image and her sexuality and reaching out to others with similar issues, preying on their insecurity.’

The barrister said McCartney used his technical knowledge as a computer science student to carry out his crimes.

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He said: ‘Chat conversations recovered from his devices make for the most disturbing reading for any right-minded person and more so for any parent.

‘They beg him to stop and plead for assurances their images will not be put on the internet or sent to friends and family members.

‘Many are crying and tell him they are shaking.

’Some of the victims told him they would kill themselves as they pleaded with him to leave them alone.

‘Others, in desperation, threatened to harm themselves, some doing so on camera.’

The court heard how McCartney told one girl he would get people to go to her house to rape her if she did not comply with his demands.

The barrister said McCartney had been arrested several times between 2016 and 2019 but continued to offend despite bail conditions.

He said: ‘Indeed, as time went on there was an escalation in the seriousness of his conduct in the form of the depravity of the demands he made of the subject children.’

Mr McDowell said a 12-year-old killed herself in May 2018 after he blackmailed her and tried to get her to involve her younger sister in sex acts.

When the girl pleaded with him to stop, the court was told that he threatened to send sexual images of her to her father.

The barrister said that after the girl’s death, her father ‘lost interest in life’ and killed himself 18 months later.

Mr McDowell said the prosecution did not accept McCartney’s claim that he had started offending after becoming a victim of catfishing himself.

Defence barrister Greg Berry KC told the court: ‘It is not hyperbole to describe this case as quite horrific, but even in the most horrific cases the court is bound to look and see if there are mitigating features on behalf of a defendant.’

He pointed out that his client had pleaded guilty, had shown remorse and had no previous criminal record.

Mr Justice O’Hara said he would deliver the sentence next week.

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