Friend of US schoolgirl driven to suicide calls for death penalty for evil catfish killer after sentence life
by Sylvia Pownall · Irish MirrorA friend of the US schoolgirl driven to suicide has called for the death penalty for her evil catfish killer after he was jailed for life.
Twisted Alexander McCartney, 26, was given a 20-year maximum term at Belfast Crown Court after admitting 185 charges, including manslaughter, involving 70 children.
The sicko had posed as a teenage girl from his bedroom in Newry, Co Armagh, to befriend girls as young as four on Snapchat before blackmailing them.
Cimarron Thomas, 12, from West Virginia, took her own life in May 2018 rather than comply with his vile demands for her to involve her younger sister in sex acts.
Last night, Cimarron’s pal Ashton Peters told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “I do think his crimes are the equivalent of the death sentence, although that’s not possible over in Ireland.
“But I am satisfied with what he did receive – justice is served.”
Ashton set up a memorial page on social media in the aftermath of Cimarron’s death and that of her grief-stricken father Ben, who took his own life 18 months later.
An earlier court hearing that what made it even worse for Cimarron’s family was the fact that until police found the online chat with McCartney in 2021 on his computer they had no idea why she ended her life.
Reacting to Friday’s sentencing, the New Zealand father of two of McCartney’s young victims said he will never forgive the predator for abusing his daughters.
McCartney catfished the man’s eldest daughter and coerced her into sending him intimate pictures in 2017. He then used the pictures to blackmail her into involving her younger sister, who was 10 at the time.
The distraught dad, who did not want to be named, said: “How do you move on from that?
“I just don’t know how that’s even possible, and how do you ever trust anyone again?”
“Catfishing is scary – it’s a scary world, and I just hate that she has to carry this burden with her.”
Former computer science student McCartney pleaded guilty to one count of manslaughter, 59 of blackmail, and 70 of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.
He was sentenced to life in jail with a minimum term of 20 years as part of the largest case of catfishing the UK has ever seen.
The full horrific extent of the events leading up to Cimarron’s death in May 2018 were revealed at an earlier court hearing by prosecutor David McDowell KC. McCartney posed as a girl called Sarah to make online contact with Cimarron who was at the family’s remote farmhouse in the hamlet of Bruceton Mills – which has a population of less than 80.
After persuading her to send him a topless photo by flattering her with comments about her body, he suddenly revealed his true identity and demanded she submit to his demands for sexually depraved photos.
Cimarron was told if she did not comply her photos would be sent to her father.
The prosecutor described how Cimarron pleaded with McCartney to stop, but he told the visibly distressed girl to “dry her eyes” and involve her younger sister, aged nine, in a sex act.
Cimarron refused and said she would rather kill herself with McCartney cruelly launching a countdown and telling her: “Goodbye and good luck.”
It is believed McCartney could have abused 3,500 children around the world from as far as Australia and New Zealand.
Mr Justice O’Hara told Belfast Crown Court the five years McCartney spent in custody would form part of his sentence. Prosecutors described the harm he caused as “unquantifiable”. Mr Justice O’Hara said: “There were young girls, with younger siblings, all over the world, whose childhoods have been scarred by this defendant.”
The judge did not accept McCartney’s claim that he began offending after being catfished himself as a teenager.
He added: “He kept offending in an even more sinister, dramatic and appalling manner even after his first arrest, and his second arrest, and his third arrest.” The judge said his offending was “industrial scale”, saying: “He ignored multiple opportunities to stop. He ignored multiple pleas for mercy. He lied and lied then lied again. It is truly difficult to think of a sexual deviant who poses a greater risk than this defendant.”
Northern Ireland’s Public Prosecution Service said some of his victims were never identified, despite exhaustive efforts by investigators. Police said they had worked “tirelessly” with international forces.
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