A UK court has sentenced a 26-year-old man to life in prison after he was found guilty of 185 charges, including the manslaughter of a girl who took her own life and sexually abusing and blackmailing children online.

Alexander McCartney posed as a teenager to befriend young women around the world via messaging apps before blackmailing them, a court in Belfast, Northern Ireland heard.

One of his victims, 12-year-old Cimarron Thomas from West Virginia in the United States, took her own life in 2018 with her father’s gun while online with McCartney.

McCartney, from South Armagh, Northern Ireland, admitted charges involving 70 children and was told he would spend at least 20 years behind bars.

McCartney pretended to be a teenage girl

The court heard the computer science student groomed victims around the world on messaging sites including Snapchat and Instagram.

Prosecutors said McCartney led the victims to believe they were chatting online with a teenage girl of a similar age.

He would then encourage them to send indecent images or engage in sexual activity via a webcam or mobile phone, which he would then share online.

The court was told the images were then used to threaten his victims.

He sometimes forced his victims to involve siblings as young as three in the abuse.

An extortion victim and her father took their own lives

One of his victims, Cimarron Thomas, committed suicide in May 2018 after McCartney demanded that the 12-year-old involve her younger sister in sexual acts that he forced her into.

Eighteen months later, her distraught father, Ben Thomas, also died by suicide.

McCartney previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with Cimarron’s death.

Although the allegations related to 70 children, police said McCartney was believed to have targeted around 3,500 victims in around 30 countries.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78QgJW0191I2q3Pe

The court previously heard that McCartney’s victims were located in the UK, continental Europe, the US, Australia and New Zealand.

McCartney also admitted Friday to 59 charges of blackmail, dozens of charges related to making and distributing indecent photographs and dozens of charges of inciting children to engage in sexual activity.

McCartney sat with his head down as the judge described his crimes and stood up with his eyes closed when the sentence was announced.

He was taken away in handcuffs.

The reaction to McCartney’s sentencing

Detective Chief Constable Eamonn Corrigan of the Police Service of Northern Ireland said McCartney was a “disgusting child predator” whose offending had been on an “industrial scale”.

“Sitting in his childhood bedroom in Newry, he began offending as a teenager and built what can only be described as a pedophile enterprise,” he told reporters outside court.

“McCartney is a dangerous, relentless and cruel pedophile,” he added.

In the case of Cimarron Thomas, Corrigan told reporters that McCartney actually started a countdown when he threatened to kill himself with a legally owned firearm, telling him, “I don’t care.”

“He may have pulled the trigger himself,” he added. “There’s only one place for him, that’s behind bars.”

mm/lo (AFP, Reuters)