A “relentless and merciless” on-line predator who blackmailed ladies all over the world was sentenced to at the least 20 years in jail on Friday after being convicted of the manslaughter of a sufferer who took her personal life.
Prosecutors say 26-year-old Alexander McCartney, from Newry in Northern Eire, pretended to be a teenage woman and carried out catfishing assaults on 3,500 feminine victims he contacted on platforms together with Snapchat.
MASS RAPE TRIAL LAYS BARE FRANCE’S DISTURBING CULTURE OF SEXUAL ASSAULT, CRITICS ALLEGE
Catfishing is utilizing a faux on-line id to deceive victims. Authorities mentioned McCartney inspired his victims to ship intimate images or interact in intercourse acts, then extorted them by threatening to share the pictures.
A 12-year-old in West Virginia killed herself in Might 2018 throughout an internet chat with McCartney as he demanded intercourse acts. The sufferer’s father died by suicide 18 months later.
Detective Chief Superintendent Eamonn Corrigan, Police Service of Northern Eire and Catherine Kierans, NI Public Prosecution Service, converse to the media exterior Belfast Crown Court docket after prolific on-line predator Alexander McCartney was jailed for at least 20 years after admitting 185 expenses involving 70 kids, on Friday. (Brian Lawless/PA through AP)
Prosecutors mentioned they imagine that is the primary time somebody has been convicted of manslaughter in a case the place sufferer and perpetrator by no means met.
“Working intently with police, the prosecution workforce was capable of set up to the prison customary that McCartney’s actions had precipitated the woman’s dying, and he had a case to reply for manslaughter,” mentioned Catherine Kieran, appearing Head of the Northern Eire Public Prosecution Service Critical Crime Unit.
Police have recognized victims in 30 nations, together with Australia, New Zealand and the US.
McCartney, who carried out his crimes from the bed room of his childhood dwelling, pleaded responsible to 185 expenses involving 70 kids, together with the manslaughter cost. At Belfast Crown Court docket, decide John O’Hara sentenced him to life with no probability of parole for 20 years.
“To my information there has not been a case equivalent to the current the place a defendant has used social media on an industrial scale to inflict such horrible and catastrophic harm,” the decide mentioned.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPÂ
Detective Chief Superintendent Eamonn Corrigan of the Police Service of Northern Eire mentioned exterior court docket that McCartney was a “relentless and merciless” pedophile.
“We can’t underestimate the devastation that he has precipitated and the childhoods he has stolen,” the officer mentioned. “There was nothing that was going to cease him, other than placing him in jail.”
