WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT. Computer science student Alexander McCartney, 26, used his technical knowledge to prey on vulnerable young girls and exploit their insecurities
Alexander McCartney used his technical knowledge to carry out his perverted crimes.
The Nothern Irish computer science student, 26, has today been sentenced to a minimum of 20 years in jail at Belfast Crown Court after admitting 185 charges involving 70 children – though the exact number of his victims is believed to be much higher. McCartney posed as a teenage girl in order to befriend other girls on Snapchat and blackmail them.
His victims have been identified all over the world, including Australia, New Zealand and the US. Cimarron Thomas, a 12-year-old from West Virginia in the US, harrowingly took her own life in May 2018 after McCartney demanded she involve her little sister in sex acts and threatened to send indecent images to her father, Ben Thomas. He later also died by suicide.
The online predator used the knowledge from his computer degree to carry out his harrowing crimes and offended from his bedroom in his childhood home. McCartney created a Snapchat account pretending to be a 13-year-old girl who was struggling with body image and her sexuality, and targeted vulnerable young girls who were gay or exploring their sexuality.
He would first secure an indecent image of his victim before “revealing his true intent and threatening them with exposure in order to force them to perform sexual acts on themselves and their very young siblings, or even on occassion a dog”. He “degraded and humiliated them”, prosecuting barrister David McDowell KC told the court.
McCartney blackmailed one girl and said he would get people to go to her house to rape her if she did not comply with his demands. Referring to the chat conversations retrieved from his devices, Mr McDowell explained: “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.”
McCartney, originally from Lissummon Road outside Newry, pleaded guilty to manslaughter relating to the death of 12-year-old Cimarron. He also admitted 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. His victims were aged between 10 and 16.
He was arrested several times between 2016 and 2019 but continued to offend despite bail conditions until he was remanded in custody in Maghaberry Prison in 2019. Mr McDowell said: “Indeed, as time went on, there was an escalation in the seriousness of his conduct in the form of the depravity of demands he made of the subject children.”
