Prolific catfish abuser who drove girl to suicide jailed for at least 20 years

[IwantToRetire]

(Some information in the article is very distressing and disturbing and it maybe that some on FWR wont want to read the details. But it does seem that police in NI, even though a small force, put a huge amount of effort in tracking this man down.)

An online predator who drove one of his catfish victims in the US to take her own life has today been jailed for at least 20 years.

Alexander McCartney, 26, who admitted 185 charges involving 70 children, was given a life sentence with a minimum term by Mr Justice O’Hara at Belfast Crown Court on Friday.

McCartney, who posed as a teenage girl to befriend young females on Snapchat before blackmailing them, is believed to be the UK’s most prolific catfish offender with victims identified across the world.

Twelve-year-old Cimarron Thomas from West Virginia in the US took her own life in May 2018 rather than comply with McCartney’s demands for her to involve her younger sister in sex acts.

Article continues at https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/alexander-mccartney-sentenced-prolific-catfish-30227880

I've taken the man's name out of the thread title and deleted the newspaper image of him.

abusers were abusing pre-internet

kidnappers carried off people before cars

murderers managed killing pre-guns

technology may be used by abusers but it is not the cause of the abuse

abusers are the cause of abuse

Very true, DaisysChains, throughout history every 'new technology' has been diverted into nefarious uses.
Which is why children have always had restricted access to technologies that they don't have the capacity to handle safely - children aren't given cars or motorbikes, but they are given unsupervised use of mobile phones 24/7. Go figure...

I've just been reading about this case. It's absolutely horrific.

Hopefully, he'll get what he fully deserves in prison. For the rest of his life!

Unfortunately NI is riddled with abusers so I fully expect more to come to light in due course
when a society is split and in conflict there is a known effect on the levels of interpersonal violence and abuse (at least you aren’t being knee-capped/blown up)

Can you provide any sources/statistics for this?

Mobile phones are not suitable for children. This has been the message since mobile phones were invented, and yet time and time again we read about tragedies like this that could and should have been avoided.

I sometimes wonder if a better campaign to get parents to realise the dangers is to say would you allow your 10 year old to go out on the streets totally unsupervised and with (as it were) a free pass to visit anywhere.

Even for adult woman the internet needs the same caution as going out on the streets.

Of course you / we should be safe, but unfortunately the threat of male violence means it isn't automatically that.

(Not sure if it is true but anecdotatlly the first computer network - the stage before internet - was set up by university staff to be able to share pornography more easily with other colleges. Seems totally likely to me. Poor Berners-Lee giving for free the computer code to allow the creaton of web sites and so on, generously donating his invention for free because he thought the world would benefit from making it easier for being in touch with each other.)

A good point.
I'm not taking anything away from the fact that this B@ST@RD deserves life+life in prison, BUT why is a 12 year old girl communicating on social media. This needs to be looked into; otherwise it's going to happen again and again.

Can you provide any sources/statistics for this?

links between domestic abuse and high conflict and/or post war societies are discussed in numerous research papers and subsequent books/articles

(*eta - above ‘domestic abuse’ also includes inter- and intra- generational abuse)

google various iterations of the question so you can find and read around the subject without feeling you’ve been ‘directed’ to any ones in particular by me

I’m hopping off this thread as while I recognise the need for self-protection (indeed am exercising it in leaving the thread)

I also recognise the need for some people to float the idea that this wouldn’t happen if only potential victims were a bit less vulnerable as a self-protection tactic

if abusers only go after those who have been made, or make themselves, vulnerable then I or those I am protecting from being vulnerable will be safe because we are not going to be vulnerable and therefore can avoid being abused

unfortunately although abusers do tend to target those who are most vulnerable, they can also be opportunistic, or grandiose in wanting a ‘challenge’,

and so can and do abuse those who would not consider themselves, or be considered by others, vulnerable

I understand this desire to believe ‘abuse wouldn’t happen if only people would X’ but I find it depressing to read and knowing how difficult a desire to believe this is to shake (being how it is usually based on trying to find some sort of exception from the threat of abuse) I’m too tired to put any more effort into it rn than this

I also recognise the need for some people to float the idea that this wouldn’t happen if only potential victims were a bit less vulnerable as a self-protection tactic

What total rubbish.

Nobody has said anything like that.

Everybody is saying that men are the predators.

And that they will as likely target someone who isn't vulernable as someone who is.

But unfortunately, more vulnerabel victims are less likely to be able to evade the predator or have the confidence to do so.

It is because this is a pattern of male behaviour, and unfortunately a pattern of who is targetted, that everyone is voicing concerns.

I am totally taken aback that anyone would think anyone is victim blaming.

If it wasn't such a tragic situation, it would be laughable.

For heavens sake, just as for older women some suggest self defence classes or trying not to walk alone at night, discussing how to protect young girls, who are less likely to be aware of men intending to do harm, whether via the internet and sadly in real life is an obvious concern for any group of feminists.

How could you have imagined anyone was implying young girls brought this on themselves.

Extraordinary.

Yes, Shona Robison. I think Sturgeon and Shirley Ann Somerville also said this or similar.

This case is horrific and heartbreaking. Those poor girls.

I am glad he got a manslaughter charge for Cirammons death. I have never heard of a case where an abuser has been charged like this.

I hope it sets a precedent for other victims of abuse who have harmed themselves due to the actions of the abuser, how many women are self harming or commit suicide as they think it’s the only escape?

Although the 20 years sentence is shit. He has been offending all his life, since he was 14. He should never be allowed back into society, let alone when he is in his 40s

Guarantee this guy gets hold of internet enabled device at some stage in his term and starts again.

I have seen a poster on Reddit, who seems informed and detailed enough to be genuine, claiming that he was on the same wing as McCartney in prison (prisoners with mental health issues and prisoners who needed protection from other prisoners were lumped together) and he claims that McCartney was getting extra privileges and having an easy time.

This is horrendous

’Catfish’ isn’t a good term for this depravity imo

So much more needs to be done to protect and educate young people. If there was more of a conversation there would be less shame and more people would report and seek help rather than feel embarrassed and scared.

Totally agree with you. And despicable men like him know it. The laissé faire attitude to kids using the internet unsupervised is putting them at huge risk.

This is such a brutal case. Those poor poor victims.
@DaisysChains has a point about the historic deep seated issues in NI.
All interconnected and not that long ago.
In Newry there were Primary School pupils who had their teacher shot by paramilitaries in front of them. 1982.

That's what I thought, Eastern. Such a flippant and easily dismissible term that no way captures what this monster has done.

The report I read said it took him one minutes to start blackmailing one victim. Nine minutes. These poor, poor girls.

I saw that.
Also comments that his mother enabled him by buying new devices each time he was out on parole/bail. Obviously to be taken with usual spectism until determined otherwise.

People break into houses but you still lock your door right?

If this doesn't make parents remove their kids access to the internet via phones and tablets then I am not sure what will.

I was just thinking that, and also in the context of education. Perhaps there should be online safety classes for kids at various stages together with their parents so there's a clearer understanding on both sides of the dangers and that if a kid is conned into doing something stupid that they can and should tell their parents and/or teachers - that the trouble and punishment will fall on the abuser.

Horrific and I hope this abuser gets suitably punished.

not intended to derail but I’d like to know what you’re referring to that Elon is enabling?

i think it’s lazy to drop famous names in like that without providing evidence and demonising people further.

If you were to say this in person, social norms would be that you back up your accusations.

I know it's entirely the fault of the perpetrator but I agree that now - possibly less so 5 years ago - there is no excuse for parents not to understand what a phone enables access to.

It's got to change. Parent your kids and don't use "I'm not techy" as an excuse not to engage with what you're buying. I would hope that we could as parents at least reduce the opportunity for abusers to find potential victims.

I assume Elon Musk's approach to moderation of his social media platform is what is meant by enabling. Removing functions of the "block" status etc.

Thank you. My view is that moderation pre-Musk was far more dangerous for women and girls as we literally could not speak about issues affecting us.

Posts were censored and demoted and posters banned for speaking the truth. I find that there’s a huge link between pornography, hatred of women, violence towards women and appropriation of womanhood by nefarious men. The platform was - and I cannot emphasise how truly awful - dangerous for women in ways it isn’t now.

Hate speech can be reported, posts can be corrected by community notes. It’s far too easy to point the blame at figures like Musk for everything that’s wrong with society.

I didn’t mean to veer off topic.