he has caused immeasurable damage to children and their families. a bbc investigation uncovers news evidence on small boats crossing the channel, some organised out of germany. a new push for peace in the middle east — the us secretary of state is in london for talks with arab leaders. # born in the usa...# and we go behind the scences with rock star bruce springsteen as he releases a documentary capturing his electrifying tour. welcome. one of the world's most prolific online child abusers has been sentenced

to life in prison. alexander mccartney, from county armagh in northern ireland, faked his identity to sexually abuse and blackmail thousands of children online. well, the judge at belfast crown court said mccartney used social media on an "industrial scale" to inflict "terrible and catastrophic" damage on young girls across the world. police believe thousands of children were targeted, with many victims never identified. before sentencing today, mccartney, who is 26, pleaded guilty to 185 charges. those charges involved 70 victims aged between 10—16 in new zealand and the united states. our ireland correspondent roger morgan has been out of the court for belfast for us today. a very disturbing case, this, richard. , . ,., richard. very much so. persecutors _ richard. very much so. persecutors and - richard. very much so. persecutors and police | richard. very much so. - persecutors and police saying it is one of the worst cases of online child abuse that have ever come across. mccartney, a

paedophile whose crimes have caused on harm around the world come many victims still living with the impact of his crimes. the court heard throughout sentencing today and previous hearings that mccartney has been utterly remorseless. the judge today saying the 26—year—old is devoid completely of any human empathy. while online with his thousands of victims day and night, as you say, offending on an industrial scale, he would encourage, coerce, convince young girls to send photos, caramelising photos of them in various states of dress and undress. he would then turn on them and blackmail them and convince them to perform emily getting acts, acts which in some instances involve the abuse of younger children, all of this for his own sexual gratification. some of their

victims, their ordeals would last for hours. he would return to some of his victims several times, it is important to point out that he prayed on young girls, young girls who were exploring their sexuality, and he used that vulnerability to prevent them from telling their parents were telling an adult was happening to them. on some nights in their bedrooms as he sat in county armagh inflicting harm on and so, so many. and it was one of his victims, a 12—year—old girl in west virginia, who took her own life as a result of the abuse inflicted by mccartney. cimarron thomas shut us up with her family's legally held a firearm just minutes after an online interaction with mccartney. she did not want to comply with his request. he wanted her to involve a younger sibling, but instead she tragically killed herself. he

was 18 months later that her father also took his own life due to the guilt of what had happened. the family at that point did not know what was happening, did not know what mccartney had been inflicting, and that is why we have this manslaughter charge, which was brought by prosecutors and which mccartney admitted to. and as a result, a direct result of his actions, cimarron thomas took her own life. she was one of many, many victims, 3500 victims worldwide the police estimate, that were targeted by mccartney, and many of those victims and we heard from some victim impact statements in court over the last number of weeks, many of those victims still living with the effects. they have anxiety, they have issues with sleep, they have issues with sleep, they have issues with sleep, they have suicidal thoughts, some of them have engaged in self—harm as a result what mccartney put them through and put their families through. this has been a huge

undertaking for the police service of northern ireland and the public prosecution service in northern ireland. it is involve multiple agencies around the world including homeland security in the us, including police forces in australia, new zealand, britain and the republic of ireland. that gives you a sense of the scale of the damage that mccartney has inflicted on people right around the world, and thejudge people right around the world, and the judge today, mrjustice o'hara, said that mccartney's offending put this case on a par with murder. the police say mccartney may as well have pulled the trigger himself in the case of a cimarron thomas, and thejudge as he the case of a cimarron thomas, and the judge as he sentenced him to 20 years said he did not envy the parole board it would have to assess whether mccartney would be eligible for release, which will not be until at least 2039. richard morgan. — until at least 2039. richard morgan. as _ until at least 2039. richard morgan, as always, - until at least 2039. richard morgan, as always, that. until at least 2039. richard | morgan, as always, that you very much on a very difficult day and a very difficult case there, richard morgan are currently in belfast out of the

court there was should just add this is a really difficult case and a lot of the details are very, very upsetting so we are not going to go into them but of course a really important story to report on. catherine kierans, chief prosecutor at the northern ireland police service, spoke at a news conference a short while ago. mccartney has now been held accountable for his devastating crimes, including the manslaughter of cimarron thomas, a 12—year—old girl from the united states of america. this little girl was one of thousands of victims of mccartney's abuse around the world. he has caused immeasurable damage to children and their families. given the scale and complexity of his offending, the cps worked closely with the police from an early stage in their investigation. we advised on the evidence needed to build the most effective case to get justice for mccartney's victims. tragically, cimarron thomas took her own life after

mccartney pretended to be a young girl and befriended her when he gained her trust. he then abused and threatened her online. our dedicated team of police, prosecutors and counsel worked together to establish to the criminal standard that mccartney's actions had caused cimarron's death. we believe this to be the first time an abuser has been held accountable for manslaughter where the victim and perpetrator have never met in person. the prosecution team was also able to apply the offence of blackmail, which normally concerns physical property, to the digital images mccartney was demanding. we have since been able to prosecute suspects for blackmail in other cases of catfishing. we will use the full extent of the law to hold abusers responsible for their actions.

i now want to turn my focus firmly to the young victims and families affected by this case. today is about them. their courage stands in stark contrast to mccartney's cowardice in targeting vulnerable young girls. the bravery of the young victims has been an inspiration to everyone who worked on this case. his conviction sends a message to other abusers. your actions have dire consequences and there is nowhere to hide from the justice system. my most important message is to children and young people. if someone is threatening you by demanding sexual images or videos, this is a crime. you are not to blame in any way. please talk to a trusted adult. to all parents and grandparents and anyone who cares for children, please speak

to the young people in your life about the dangers of talking to strangers online. absolutely at the heart of this, the victims. that phrase catfishing can be just this, the victims. that phrase catfishing can bejust to explain is when someone takes on a fake identity online to target another person, usually for abuse or for fraudulent reasons. one of mccartney's victims was a 12—year—old girl from west virginia in the united states, who took her own life after being abused by him. cimarron thomas was targeted by mccartney on snapchat. she killed herself rather than comply with his demands, which included the abuse of her younger sister. her father ben took his own life 18 months later not knowing what happened to his daughter. it wasn't until 2021 that investigators discovered the abuse. detective chief superintendent eamonn corrigan read out a statement on behalf of the grandparents of cimarron thomas.

"we all have been devastated . by our granddaughter's passing. we know that nothing that we do or say will bring her back, - but if we can help another family to not have to go . through what we did, _ something good could come out of her death. perhaps, parents, please keep the doors of communication i opened concerning the evil of some people online." i the bbc received this statement from snapchat. the social media company said...

earlier, i spoke to our news correspondent angus crawford, who discussed how the digital landscape has changed. he says the time that the cases took place is significant. utterly horrific case, but which i think raises two really important issues. the first thing to point out is that mccartney's offences took place between 2013—2019. these were the early days, the wild west, if you like, of social media. there were almost no guardrails. social media was wide open, and he, mccartney, ruthlessly exploited these loopholes around snapchat and instagram. child accounts were then just public by default, and anyone could make contact, which is exactly what he did. the digital landscape, though, has changed. i mean, there are still real problems, particularly with grooming and sexual exploitation, which still affect instagram and snapchat, but it is a safer place today than it was six or seven years ago. and it's worth saying that today is the one—year anniversary of the passing of the online safety act.

now the second point, which i think is really most important, is that possibly this awful case gives us all an opportunity to talk about the problems of online grooming, and for parents, guardians, carers to talk to young people. and for young people to take one really important message, which is if they're being bullied or threatened online like this, blackmailed, it's not their fault. they're the victims of a crime, and they can speak up and must speak up. and nothing is so embarrassing it's worth ending your life over. yes, a really important message there from angus crawford, something which was reiterated by the police. angus crawford spending many, many years investigating online abuse. if you've been affected by any of the issues raised, you could speak to a health professional or an organisation that offers support. if you're in the uk, you can find a list of those organisations that can help at bbc.co.uk/actionline, or go to befrienders.org if you live outside the uk.

we will give you that information as well. this is a difficult, difficult case with a lot of really upsetting details, so of course if you need support, it is there for you and most importantly talk to someone. let's turn to another big story. the us secretary of state, antony blinken, is here in london for talks on ending the fighting in the middle east amid american hopes that the death of hamas leader yahya sinwar could be an opportunity for a breakthrough. in qatar this weekend, mediators will reconvene for the first time in weeks. mr blinken has spoken to the lebanese prime minister, najib mikati, and is also talking to the foreign ministers from jordan and the united arab emirates. the secretary of state promised to work with real urgency to get a diplomatic resolution of the conflict. we've had very good and important conversations this week, including this morning, on ending the war in gaza and charting a path for what comes next.

and those conversations will continue, but i think this is a moment of importance and urgency that we are working to seize. our state department correspondent tom bateman is travelling with antony blinken. well, what the americans have been trying to do, both here in london and in the region over the last few days as i've been travelling with mr blinken, is to work on what they call the "day after plan", a post—conflict plan for gaza — how to secure it, how to rebuild it and, crucially, how it would be governed. now that might seem a bit odd seeing as they haven't made any progress for weeks now on actually how to end the war, because the plan that had been in place for that, or the negotiations had centred around first getting a ceasefire between israel and hamas in exchange for the release of hostages. and then you would have a process during which the two

parties during these mediated negotiations would work out what happens next. hamas's demand — the full withdrawal of israeli troops from gaza, a full end to the war. what the americans are trying to do, i think, after the death of yahya sinwar, is in some ways to set that process to one side, to work on the post—war plan for governance. now, i think that they believe they're getting some traction on that from the israelis. they want to get buy—in from arab countries, who would be crucial to potentially being involved in this, sponsoring it, perhaps even, it's been speculated, providing security forces or other support and money to rebuild gaza — they want to get all that done and then present it as a sort of fait accompli and saying, "this is and saying, "this is the plan for the future of gaza without hamas, and also, crucially, without the israelis. you get an israeli withdrawal," and that would then or could

then be presented as a fait accompli to hamas, and that would take place in exchange for the release of hostages. it's unclear, of course, whether hamas would go for that at all. it's a change to the order of things in the way they were going to do them before and the formatting of this process, and we still don't have, of course, any strong signs that hamas are engaging with the ceasefire process itself. so quite a lot of change, really, in terms of the way this is all being dealt with by the americans and a lot of uncertainty, too, because we just still don't know whether or not these mediated talks between israel and hamas are going to fully get back up and running. we know the negotiators will be back in doha probably at the weekend, but whether or not they can get full engagement from homes — unclear. and so at the moment, several days of talks, a bit of progress, it seems, but still no signs of a further breakthrough.

away from the diplomacy, the actual conflict continues. lebanon has accused israel of deliberately targeting journalists after three people were killed by an air strike on a building where members of the media were staying. footage shows collapsed buildings and cars marked "press" covered in dust and rubble. the israeli army did not issue a warning before the strike. israel hasn't commented, but said five of its soldiers were killed while fighting the previous day. meanwhile, in gaza, dozens of people have been killed in the latest israeli air strikes. the hamas—run health ministry says children are among the 23 people killed in the north of the territory, while health officials in the south say at least 38 people have been killed in khan younis. much more on the middle east, of course, on our website. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

welcome back. a bbc investigation has uncovered evidence of how germany is being used to store small boats before they're used by migrants to cross

the english channel. during a meeting that we covertly filmed, two smugglers reveal how dinghies are being stored in secret warehouses around the city of essen. our berlin correspondent jessica parker has more on this. essen, west germany, a place many migrants come to or pass through. it's here ourjournalist is posing as a syrian man who wants to get to britain on a small boat. wearing a secret camera, he meets this man, a boat smuggler, who says his name is abu sahar. these are videos from abu sahar — motors, dinghies for use in migrant crossings. this one, he's suggested, is being stored nearby, somewhere around essen, ready for the right price. they end up at a cafe. it's becoming clear someone else is coming. months of groundwork have led up to this moment. our guy is just a couple of streets away, having

a meeting with his contact. we've got a tracker on him. we're parked up here. we don't want to get too close. that could compromise things, but we've got to be close enough in case there's a problem and we have to get him out of there. they'rejoined by a man known as al hal — the uncle — a term of authority. due to strict german law, we can't record the sound of the meeting. so, right after, ourjournalist describes to me what happened. they tell me the equipment comes from turkey. they have about ten warehouses around essen. police raided one a few days ago, but they separate their stock and give bait to police. as our investigation shows, smugglers are moving boats from turkey to west germany. britain's national crime agency has confirmed germany's a central location for storing dinghies later used in channel crossings, because cities like essen are near but not too near the calais region's more

closely watched beaches, while, under german law, helping to smuggle people out of the eu to a third country like the uk isn't technically illegal. back at the cafe, it's down to business. the smuggler says one option. "i can get you a boat. "you will pay me 15,000 euros. "you will get the boat with 60 life jackets and all the equipment. "guaranteed delivery to the calais area." this testimony is backed up by videos, messages and voice notes from the smugglers. in various exchanges, the main contact, abu sahar, even discusses the merits of certain engine models and known migrant crossing points. on the beaches of north—eastern france, dawn breaks. cooperation to crack down on gangs is good or being accelerated, according to the german and uk governments.

but the remnants of failed, even fatal crossing attempts litter these shores. while, as we've shown, smugglers continue to make big money from this misery. jessica parker, bbc news. a lot of pick up on end jessica's report there. let's speak to rob lawrie, a former soldier turned aid worker with refugees. you also produce the award—winning podcast to catch a scorpion, in which you and the journalist sue mitchell go on a search for one of europe's most wanted men, a people—smuggler codenamed scorpion. what strikes me initially is just how organised these people smugglers are. is that what you found? ~ , ., ., smugglers are. is that what you found? ~ , . ., , found? well, yeah, a sound but i hear from _ found? well, yeah, a sound but i hear from time _ found? well, yeah, a sound but i hear from time and _ found? well, yeah, a sound but i hear from time and time - found? well, yeah, a sound but i hear from time and time again i hearfrom time and time again is gains. these are anything but gains. these are highly sophisticated, well organised

professional networks spanning from the middle east through europe and onto the uk. in first of all, hats off to the investigator there he went to that meeting in essen. i know from personal experiences smugglers at this level of command do not have much respect for human life, so he has done really well to get the information he has gotten. now, he did point at essen, but i can tell you from a podcast that sue mitchell and myself did last year called the smuggler�*s trail, the westphalian area of germany, including dusseldorf, cologne and essen, all the area have multiple smuggler areas where boats are being stored for departure, for dispatch to the beaches of calais. just departure, for dispatch to the beaches of calais.— departure, for dispatch to the beaches of calais. just talk us throu . h beaches of calais. just talk us through because _ beaches of calais. just talk us through because it _ beaches of calais. just talk us through because it was - through because it was interesting point in the report there that since the uk left there that since the uk left the european union, it kind of impacts how the legality works from germany.—

from germany. well, the thing is with germany, _ from germany. well, the thing is with germany, they - from germany. well, the thing is with germany, they have - from germany. well, the thing l is with germany, they have laws in place to protect human rights through covert surveillance, so in this country, i think this is my understanding, if law enforcement want to secretly eavesdrop on a smuggler or a drug trafficker and their phone calls, they can do by order of a judge. calls, they can do by order of ajudge. in calls, they can do by order of a judge. in germany, calls, they can do by order of ajudge. in germany, is calls, they can do by order of a judge. in germany, is very different. it's written into their constitution that they cannot do that within the realms of the law, so you can almost see the human trafficking networks are actually exploiting the german law against germany itself. so my question has always been, at which point does it become illegal? so one of the methodologies they use this to actually set up marine, legal tax paying marine import businesses as a front, and they bring boats into germany with all the correct paperwork. so

it's really difficult to say at which point they are breaking the law. now, that said, there is something called conspiracy to break the law, which in itself is a criminal act. but it's so come as a difficult to prove that in a court of law. fascinating to speak to you and to get your insight and, robert lori, congratulations on the podcast, it is available on bbc it sounds as well. really appreciate your time. just posit report is also available on 1546 00:25:34,10