Scots teen helped snare one of world's most prolific online sex offenders

Hannah Rodger

16 November 2024 at 11:30 pm·1-min read

A Scots teenager helped snare one of the world’s most prolific online sex offenders who was jailed last month for 20 years.

Alexander McCartney, 26, from Northern Ireland, admitted 185 charges including child sex offences and manslaughter.

He was only caught when a 13-year-old girl contacted police after being targeted online and officers seized 64 devices from the student’s home.

Between 2013 and 2019, McCartney posed as a teenager to lure victims into sending images, which he threatened to share.

Victims included Cimarron Thomas, 12, from West Virginia, who shot herself after an online chat with him in 2018. Her dad Benjamin took his own life 18 months later.

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