Britain’s worst catfish told a 12-year-old girl she was going to be ‘my little toy for the night’ in vile Snapchats after tricking her into sending intimate photos of herself.
Sick Alexander McCartney admitted 184 offences of offences of blackmail and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity alongside the manslaughter of terrified Cimarron Thomas. She killed herself rather than submit to his demands.
The 26-year-old, of Newry, South Armagh, pretended to be a teenage girl when contacting hundreds of other young girls, many who were gay or unsure of their sexuality.
In horrific messages between him and one of his child victims, his perverted tactics are laid bare as he can be seen joking and flirting before suddenly turning nasty.
Revealing his crimes, the former University of Ulster student switches from calling her ‘cute’ to threatening to flood the internet with her photographs and reveling in his control over her.
He wrote: ‘Alright I used a fake camera snap app. I have your face pic and nudes. You are gonna do as I say for tonight and then I’ll leave after.
A mugshot of ‘Britain’s worst catfish’ Alexander McCartney who lived in Northern Ireland
In horrific messages between Alexander McCartney and one of his child victims, his perverted tactics are laid bare as he can be seen joking and flirting before suddenly turning nasty
‘But if you don’t then I’m uploading everything online for everyone to see. Understand?’
The computer science student continues: ‘As long as you obey and do as I say then nothing happens and ill leave you alone after tonight got it?’
And in a chilling conclusion, he adds: ‘Your gonna be my little toy for the night.’
In the terrifying exchange, the young girl starts by sending excitable, innocent messages filled with emojis and love hearts.
But after McCartney’s identity is revealed the tone takes a tragic shift as she finds herself helpless in his trap.
‘Now I’m scared,’ she replies, before sending one-word answers of compliance to his sick demands.
Most of McCartney’s victims were aged from between 10 and 16 and lived in the UK, Europe, America, Australia and New Zealand.
Prosecutor David McDowell spent 90 minutes describing how McCartney had ‘degraded and humiliated’ his victims and showed no mercy when they pleaded with him to stop.
Catfishing involves the use of a false identity online to befriend and exploit victims.
Pretending to be a girl, McCartney found and befriended girls who were said to be struggling with sexuality.
He flattered them to get a compromising photograph and then used it to blackmail and threaten the teens into committing appalling acts.
Each victim was left terrified that their intimate photos would be exposed to family and friends.
McCartney told one girl that he would get people to come to her house to rape her if she didn’t comply.
When another said her mother was dying of cancer he said: ‘I don’t care’ and continued with his relentless abuse.
Prosecutors said he carried out the abuse for his own sexual gratification.
It only came to an end after a girl in Scotland complained that she was a victim of catfishing and the UK’s biggest catfishing investigation was launched.
In March 2019 police in Scotland contacted their counterparts in Northern Ireland about a 13 year old girl who had been groomed by an adult using the alias of someone her age.
McCartney was traced and arrested. Police seized 64 devices and found tens of thousands of images of underage girls performing sex acts while being blackmailed.
Alexander McCartney (pictured), 26, operated from the bedroom of his family home in rural Northern Ireland and persuaded young girls to send naked pictures of themselves
His lawyers said McCartney had showed genuine remorse and since being arrested in 2019 has been held on remand for five years.
He had first made contact with Cimarron Thomas in May 2018.
After receiving intimate photos he tried to blackmail her into carrying out his deviant demands.
Despite tearfully pleading with him to stop McCartney threatened to send the photos to her father and friends.
When she refused his demands and said she would shoot herself he cruelly began a countdown and told her ‘goodbye and good luck.’
The youngster was found dying by her nine-year-old sister.
A general view of Newry High Street in Northern Ireland, close to where Alexander McCartney lived
Police who carried out the investigation into McCartney today released the emergency call made by a neighbour who has rushed to help the young girl.
McCartney used his technical knowledge as a computer science student to carry out his crimes, said the prosecution
Much of the call is muffled, but the 911 operator can be heard telling the neighbour to apply pressure to the head wound.
Cimarron’s 40 year old father, a US army veteran, took his own life 18 months after her death.
At the time the family from a rural town had no idea why Cimarron had killed herself.
It was only in 2021 when police found a transcript of the conversation between Cimarron and McCartney they were able to tell them the reason for her death.
He had kept the online chat as a ‘trophy’ on his computer.
Family members told Mail Online evil McCartney ‘might as well pulled the trigger’ and were outraged that he was not charged with murder.
They had hoped that he would be extradited to the US, but State Department authorities say that will not happen.
Members of the Thomas family said the double tragedy had torn apart their family with Cimarron’s mother Stephanie suffering from PTSD and six years on unable to bring herself to talk about her daughter’s death.