Victims of NI catfish abuser Alexander McCartney speak out

A new BBC Series is set to hear from victims of NI catfish abuser Alexander McCartney.

In October 2024, the 26-year-old from Newry was sentenced to life imprisonment for convictions including manslaughter, child sexual offences and blackmail.

A BBC statement said: "His manslaughter conviction is believed to be the first of its kind in the world.

READ MORE: Stormont Justice Minister regrets catfish victims may not be identified

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"Teen Predator/Online Killer for BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Three features interviews with three of McCartney’s many victims.

"They’ve spoken for the first time about their experiences and the devastating impact of McCartney’s actions.

"We’ve protected their identities, but allowed their testimony to be heard in a shocking and important account of online predation and its effects."

‘Emily’ from Oregon, in the United States, was 14 years of age when she was ‘catfished’ and then abused by McCartney in 2018. He then created ‘profiles’ using images of her to sexually abuse other young girls around the world. Emily never told anyone about her abuse online, but in 2021, after an extensive identification process, she was contacted by the US Department of Homeland Security.

‘Emily’, said: “He used my photos to catfish other girls and it does make me angry. I think doing this will help me a lot to feel closure – just feeling like I am wrapping up this chapter of my life and, once this is out, I will feel relief.

“I know his name. I’ve learned a lot more about him and how he operated. I know he is behind bars. There were some tears and hugs from both my parents, it felt good to have that support from them.”

Detective Sergeant Neil McInnes, who led the investigation for the PSNI and uncovered the evidence from McCartney’s devices, spoke of the exchanges between ‘Emily’ and McCartney.

He said: “It was a surprising conversation to find. It was the only time that I have seen that in all the conversations that I’ve read. These horrible acts of manipulation but then he is having a normal conversation threading into the middle of that. He was 20. How did he ever think that was normal? It’s almost as if he is infatuated with her. This is the girl whose images he would then go on to use to send to all the other victims.”

The series also includes testimony from the family of Cimarron Thomas, the young girl who died by suicide at the age of 12. Peggy and Dale Thomas from Maryland in the United States are the grandparents of Cimarron. They had no idea why their granddaughter Cimarron took her own life in 2018. It was years later when they learned the truth that she had been abused by McCartney including up to the time of her death.

Speaking about what happened to her granddaughter, Peggy Thomas said: “Why was the biggest question, why? The investigating people went to the school and talked to everybody and nobody had anything concrete to say. It just wasn’t her to do it. That was the hardest part – not understanding why she would.”

In 2021 Cimarron’s family were contacted by PSNI and told of McCartney’s involvement. Peggy added: “It gave us an answer to what we had been wanting – a reason why she took her life.”

Tragically Cimarron’s father, Ben, died by suicide 18 months after Cimarron’s death. He did not know about his daughter's abuse or why she took her own life.

Peggy said: “Ben just missed her, he just kind of withdrew, because he couldn’t deal with all of it.

“I can’t say how he would have handled it. I think it would have give him a reason to know why. In his mind I think that would have helped him accept it maybe a little better… we’ll never know that.”

‘Ivy’, from Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand was 12 years of age when she was abused and blackmailed by McCartney in late December 2017 – something that was reported to the police in early 2018.

She said: “I was just confused and scared. I just felt like it wasn’t going to end. It’s like seven years later. I spoke out and talking about it definitely helps. I like who I am nowadays.”

‘Violet’, from Virginia Beach, United States was ‘catfished’ and then abused by McCartney at age 12 in 2018. Her concerns were reported to a police officer based in her school, prompting the involvement of the US Department of Homeland Security.

She said: “Being catfished – it’s such like a light term for this situation. To me being catfished – you are on a Tinder profile and your pictures look different to what you look like in real life – that is not this. It is a sex crime and it is horrible. People have lost their lives over this. I reported him and he got caught.

“Speak out – because you truly never know the magnitude of the situation you are dealing with.”

A BBC statement continued: "The series also features unique access to the multi-agency international investigation, piecing together the work of the detectives and special agent who led the hunt for McCartney and reveals the events which led to this prolific online predator finally being convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

"The series includes interviews from Detective Sergeant Neil McInnes, PSNI and Detective Inspector Judith Hamill, who led the PSNI investigation from March 2019 onwards; Special Agent Paul Wolpert, Homeland Security Investigations – Virginia, USA, who coordinated the huge identification efforts of victims across the US and was instrumental in the discovery that Cimarron’s death was connected to Alexander McCartney; and Detective Sergeant Heath Jones, New Zealand Police, Hawke’s Bay, who received a report from a young victim and her cousin in Hawke’s Bay."

Teen Predator/Online Killer is a 3 x30’ series produced by Belfast-based production company DoubleBand Films for BBC Three and BBC Northern Ireland with support from Northern Ireland Screen. The full series is available now on BBC iPlayer.

It will be broadcast on BBC One Northern Ireland, Monday 11, Tuesday 12 and Wednesday 13 November at 10.40pm and on BBC Three from Monday 18 November at 9pm, and on BBC One on Tuesday 26 November ay 11pm.

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