In a historic first Alexander McCartney was sentenced for child sexual abuse crimes and blackmail, along with one manslaughter charge with all offences carried out online.

McCartney, 26, from Newry was sentenced at Belfast Crown Court on Friday, October 25, for child sexual abuse crimes and blackmail, along with one manslaughter charge that of Cimarron Thomas, a 12 year old girl from West Virginia.

Making him the first person in the UK to be sentenced for manslaughter when the victim resided in a foreign jurisdiction.

Detective Chief Superintendent Eamonn Corrigan from the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s Crime Operations Department called McCartney a “disgusting child predator.”

In brining McCartney to justice the Northern Ireland officers had to work with other agencies across the UK and the world to safeguard victims and build a robust case against him with Detective Chief Superintendent Corrigan adding that his “offending has shocked communities around the world.”

“It should not be underestimated how difficult this job is, to watch and grade child abuse imagery to bring someone like McCartney to justice and locate and safeguard his victims is no easy feat.

“All of us working on this case have families at home and we wanted to protect these children as if they were our own.”

Talking about the case Detective Chief Superintendent Corrigan said: “Sitting in his childhood bedroom in Newry, he began his offending as a late teenager and built what can only be described as a pedophile enterprise. He had a number of devices and was operating across different time zones.  

“He has caused serious and long-lasting harm on what we estimate to be around 3,500 victims and their families.”

Detective Chief Superintendent Corrigan added: “His offending is devastating and unfortunately we are seeing more of this type of online predatory behaviour from younger offenders than ever before. 

“We are working harder than ever to protect children who are being exploited in any way for the sexual gain of adults. If you are downloading, viewing, making, possessing or distributing indecent images of children, we are actively looking for you. Please take that as a serious threat.”

Childlight, a global child safety data institute, hosted by the University of Edinburgh and established by the Human Dignity Foundation, has responded to the life sentence for online predator Alexander McCartney, calling for a new approach to prevent sexual exploitation and abuse.

Childlight CEO Paul Stanfield said: “This is one of the most horrific and disturbing cases ever to come to light and tragically for children, it is far from unusual.

“The sexual abuse and exploitation of children online is a global pandemic, affecting around 10 children every second around the world.

“In the UK alone, our research indicates about 1.8 million UK men have sexually offended online against children so it’s too big for law enforcement to counter alone.

“We need a prevention-focused, public health approach that utilises education, collaboration and regulation to ensures child safety online is paramount.”

Childlight recently produced the first global estimate of the extent of online child sexual exploitation and abuse, indicating that more than 300 million children annually fall victim, equivalent to around 10 children every second.