Northern Irish catfishing abuser targeted over 70 children "who were gay or exploring their sexuality"
At a hearing at a Belfast court, Alexander McCartney (26), from County Armagh, pleaded guilty to a total of 185 offences spanning 2013 to 2019.
The case was described in court as “the UK’s largest catfishing case”, which sparked a global investigation after police in Scotland received a report of blackmail via Snapchat.At a pre-sentence hearing, the court heard that the victims were mostly young girls aged 10 to 16 from the UK, US, continental Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
Creating fake online profiles pretending to be young teenage girls, McCartney approached his victims through social media like Snapchat, Instagram and Kik.According to prosecution barrister David McDowell KC, as part of his catfishing, the Northern Irish abuser primarily targeted young girls “who were gay or exploring their sexuality” and persuaded them to send him sexual photos of themselves.
Once he had such pictures, he revealed his “true intent” and blackmailed them into sending more graphic material.One of his victims, a 12-year-old American girl, died by suicide in May 2018 after McCartney threatened to post her images online.Many of the children targeted were identified after McCartney’s Lissummon Road home in Newry was searched, with police finding thousands of images of young girls “in various states of dress and undress, performing various sexual acts”.While 70 victims appeared on the court papers, it was likely there were “many many more”, said barrister David McDowell KC.
