Alexander McCartney: Friend of Newry paedophile’s US victim ‘wishes he could get the death penalty’

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/courts/i-wish-he-could-get-the-death-penalty-says-friend-of-newry-paedophiles-us-victim/a868133006.html

A childhood friend of the 12-year-old American girl who took her own life after being blackmailed by “depraved” paedophile Alexander McCartney has said he should be extradited to the US to face the death penalty.

Primarily using Snapchat, the 26-year-old, from Newry, Co Armagh, created fake accounts posing as a young girl to blackmail children into sharing sexually explicit images and ­videos of themselves engaging in sexual activity in countries as far away as the United States and New Zealand.

Among the computer science student’s victims — who police believe number over 3,500 — Cimarron Thomas from West Virginia took her own life in May 2018 after she was targeted by his crimes. Her father Ben Thomas, a US army veteran, took his own life 18 months later.
McCartney’s crimes, committed from 2014 to 2019, spanned almost 30 countries and have devastated the lives of children and families worldwide.

Police have vowed to investigate more claims of abuse against McCartney, the UK’s most prolific catfisher, who was sentenced to life in prison on Friday, the first person to be sentenced in the UK for the manslaughter of a victim in a foreign jurisdiction.

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But Ashton Peters, who was a childhood best friend of Cimarron, said a life in prison was too good for McCartney, despite getting some “closure” with the sentencing.

“I really think he should have the death penalty. I know that isn’t possible over there but I wish they had transferred him over here and given him the death penalty, but I don’t think they’re going to do that,” Peters told The Sunday Times.

Peters first met Cimarron in first grade at Central Mountain Middle School and the pals got the school bus together and visited each other’s houses.

Now 20 and studying criminal justice at college, he said he still struggled to come to terms with what happened to his friend. “It still just blows my mind,” he added.
Cimarron had begged McCartney to leave her alone and told him she would rather kill herself than obey him. He responded with a countdown clock and told her: “Goodbye and good luck.”
Peters said he has tried to use his grief to create something positive and has raised more than $8,000 for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention through fundraisers held as part of a memorial project.

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Following the sentencing, PSNI Chief Superintendent Eamonn Corrigan, who played a leading role in the investigation, said he believes there could be many more than the 3,500 suspected victims, based on images collected by investigators.

“For any of the victims the road back is going to be long ,” he said. “We have seen cases of self-harm, mental health, families shattered by this, childhoods destroyed.

“He’s offended in 28 countries across the world. The impact of that offending is absolutely devastating. It’s going to be really difficult for the victims to move on.”
Messages sent on Snapchat by McCartney reveal the manipulation he employed to coerce them into performing humiliating sexual acts for his own perverted gratification.

Snapchat described the case as “horrific” and the company said that “our hearts go out to the victims in this case”.

“If we discover this activity, or it is reported to us, we remove it, lock the ­violating account and report it to the authorities.

“We have extra protections for teens to make it difficult for them to be contacted by strangers and we have expanded in-app notifications to ensure teens are in touch with people they trust. Through our in-app Family Centre ­parents can also see who their teens are talking to, and who their friends are,” Snapchat said.

Detective Chief Superintendent Eamonn Corrigan and Catherine Kierans from the Public Prosecution Service speak to members of the media after the sentencing of Alex McCartney
Those who knew McCartney growing up in Newry described him as a strange, antisocial introvert who lived online and was a stranger in his own community.

Speaking anonymously to The Sunday Times a former pupil at Newry High School recalled an unsociable “computer recluse” who was totally engrossed in the world of online gaming.

“At break time, there was a corridor down the back where he would have hung about.

“He was really, really quiet. I don’t know what happened to him. He just sort of fell off the radar since he went to college and nobody heard of him since. Then this was on the news.”
He added that McCartney had never interacted with other pupils on the school bus, either, but had “sat in silence with his headphones on”.

Taoiseach Simon Harris said the case highlighted the need for further cross-border co-operation in tackling such “horrific, disgusting and despicable” crimes and he called on the European Union to quickly pass a directive on tackling child abuse.

Mr Harris said it was “one of the most depraved and haunting cases that I think I think we’ve ever heard of.

“It definitely shows the need now for the European Union to get on with it when it comes to passing a directive on child sex abuse,” he added.