Alexander McCartney Sentenced to Life for Global Child Abuse Network
McCartney, who targeted over 3,500 children online, has been jailed for a minimum of 20 years after his actions led to the death of a 12-year-old girl.
- Alexander McCartney, 26, operated a vast catfishing network from his home in Northern Ireland, posing as a young girl to blackmail children worldwide.
- His offenses included manslaughter, blackmail, and causing children to engage in sexual acts, with victims across 30 countries.
- The case involved one of the largest catfishing investigations globally, with McCartney exploiting vulnerabilities in children aged 10 to 16.
- McCartney's actions led to the suicide of Cimarron Thomas, a 12-year-old girl from West Virginia, marking the first UK manslaughter conviction of its kind.
- Authorities seized tens of thousands of indecent images from McCartney's devices, highlighting the industrial scale of his predatory behavior.
UPI 
Hindustan Times 
CNN 
NDTV 
BBC 
Australian Broadcasting Corporation 
Associated Press 
The Times 
i 
The Independent 
Evening Standard 
South China Morning Post 
CBS News Evening Standard Associated Press BBC BBC 
Deutsche Welle Evening Standard The Independent 
Sky News 
The Guardian Evening Standard 
Metro The Independent Sky News Evening Standard 