will be back with you shortly, for the moment that is richard at belfast crown court. these offences, it is almost extraordinary and incredible. police believe he targeted around 3500 children. across some 30 countries. as we heard, thejudge some 30 countries. as we heard, the judge described the crimes as ones of sadism and depravity. what would you say the lessons that can be learned from this case for parents, children and social media companies?— children and social media companies? children and social media comanies? . ., ., ., companies? there are a lot of lessons for — companies? there are a lot of lessons for parents _ companies? there are a lot of lessons for parents and - lessons for parents and children. for children, if it looks too good to be true it is. you have to be one of the first lines of defence for yourself. it is difficult for children, we need to better educate them in schools about this. we need to give them real tools so they are much more alive to the red flags that they are being cat fished. we use this term, what we really mean is that they

the judge at belfast crown court described mccartney's crimes as acts of "sadism", which "scarred" thehoods of his victims. police believe thousands of children were targeted, with many victims never identified. before sentencing today, mccartney, who is 26 and from county armagh in northern ireland, pleaded guilty to 185 charges. those charges involved 70 victims aged between 10 and 16, in new zealand and the united states. before we go any futher, i need to warn you that many of the details we'll be hearing about this case are really distressing. catherine kierans, chief prosecutor at psni spoke at a press conference earlier. we believe this to be the first time in 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 and other cases of catfishing. we will use the full extent of the law to hold abusers responsible f

abusers, who drove one of his young victims to take her own life, has been jailed for life at belfast crown courtcartney admitted 185 charges involving 70 children although the court was told the true number of victims could be as high as three and a half thousand. mccartney, who's 26, posed as a young girl, in order to befriend girls in 30 countries on the instant messaging service snapchat before going on to blackmail them. the judge said mccartney's crimes had scarred his victims' childhoods and that the details of his offending put the case on a par with murder. chris page reports. cimarron thomas lived thousands of miles away from the abuser who caused her death. why? victims, telling them he would post the photos publicly unless they carried out acts of abuse for his sexual gratification. three minutes after mccartney's last message to cimarron, the emergency services received this call. 18 months later, cimarron�*s father ben took his own life without knowing what had led to his daughter's suicide. police and prosecutors on both sides of the atlantic worked to bring the manslaughter charge

alexander mccartney admitted 185 charges involving 70 children — although belfast crown court was toldney, who's 26, posed as a young girl, in order to befriend girls on messaging service snapchat — before going on to blackmail them. thejudge said mccartney had used social media on an industrial scale, to inflict catastrophic damage. this report from chris page contains distressing details. cimarron thomas lived thousands of miles away from the abuser who caused her death. why? "why" was the biggest question. why? this was the sunday we took her home before her passing. she has bright red lipstick on, getting into that stage of her life, to be a teenager. she almost was. alexander mccartney was blackmailing cimarron. he had initially pretended to be a teenage girl to trick cimarron into sending him explicit pictures of herself. he went through the same sickening routine with 3,500 victims, telling them he would post the photos publicly unless they carried out acts of abuse for his sexual gratification. three minutes after mccartney's last message to cimarron, the emergency services rec

online asers who drove one of his young victims to take her own life has been jailed for life at belfast crown courtder mccartney admitted 100 85 charges involving 70 children. although the court was told the true number of victims could be high as 3500. mccartney, who is 26 posed as a young girl in order to befriend young girls in 30 countries on the messaging services that cap before going on to blackmailed him. the charts and mccartney's crimes had started his victims childhoods and that the details of his offending put the case on par with murder. >> simmering thomas lived thousands of miles away from the abuser who caused her death. >> why? why was the biggest question, why? this was the sunday that we took her home before her passing. bright red lipstick on, getting onto that stage of her life to be a teenager. she almost was. >> alexander mccartney was blackmailing her. he had initially pretended to be a teenage girl, to trick cimarron into sending him explicit pictures of herself. he went through the same sickening routine with 3500 victims, telling them they would post the photos publicly u

the judge at belfast crown court described mccartney's crimes as acts of sadism , which "scarred" theed. before sentencing today, mccartney, who is 26 and from county armagh in northern ireland, pleaded guilty to 185 charges. those charges involved 70 victims aged between 10 and 16, in new zealand and the united states. before we go any futher, i need to warn you that many of the details we'll be hearing about this case are really distressing. catherine kierans, chief prosecutor at the northern ireland police service, spoke at a press conference earlier. many of the details will be hearing about in this case are really distressing. held accountable for manslaughter where the victim and the perpetrator have never met in person. the prosecution team was also able to apply the offence of black r ,we , we have since been able to prosecute suspects for this and other cases of cat fishing. will use the full extent of the law to hold abusers responsible for their actions. law to hold abusers responsible fortheiractions. —— for their actions. —— blackmail. as we heard, one of mccartney's vict

alexander mccarty admitted 185 charges involving 70 children, although belfast crown court was told aof victims -- the number is much higher. he posed as a young girl online in order to befriend girls on messaging services like snapchat before going to blackmail him. the judge said mccartney had used social media on an industrial scale to inflict catastrophic damage. the report from chris page contained distressing details. chris: simmer and thomas lived thousands of miles away from the abus who caused her death. >> why? why was the biggest question. this is the sunday we took her home before her passing. she had bright red lipstick on, getting into that stage of her life. she almost was. chris: alexander mccarty was blackmailing simran. he initially pretended to be a teenage girl to trick her into sending him a solicit pictures of herself. he went through the same sickening routine with three and a half thousand victims, telling them he would post the photos publicly unless they carried on acts of abuse for his sexual gratification. [phone ringing] three minutes after mccartney's las

well, the judge at belfast crown court said mccartney used social media on an "industrial scale" to inflictterrible 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—y

alexander mccartney admitted 185 charges involving 70 children — although belfast crown court was toldly much higher. mccartney, who's 26, posed as a young girl, in order to befriend girls on messaging service snapchat, before going on to blackmail them. the judge said mccartney had used social media on an industrial scale, to inflict catastrophic damage. this report from chris page contains distressing details. cimarron thomas lived thousands of miles away from the abuser who caused her death. why? "why" was the biggest question. why? this was the sunday we took her home before her passing. she has bright red lipstick on, getting into that stage of her life, to be a teenager. she almost was. alexander mccartney was blackmailing cimarron. he had initially pretended to be a teenage girl to trick cimarron into sending him explicit pictures of herself. he went through the same sickening routine with 3,500 victims, telling them he would post the photos publicly unless they carried out acts of abuse for his sexual gratification. three minutes after mccartney's last message to cimarron, the

abusers, who drove one of his young victims to take her own life, has been jailed for life at belfast crown courtder mccartney admitted 185 charges involving 70 children — although the court was told there could be as many as 3500 victims. mccartney, who's 26, posed as a girl, in order to befriend girls on the instant messaging service snapchat before going on to blackmail them. thejudge said mccartney had used social media on an industrial scale, to inflict catastrophic damage. chris page reports. cimarron thomas lived thousands of miles away from the abuser who caused her death. why? "why" was the biggest question. why? this was the sunday we took her home before her passing. she has bright red lipstick on, getting into that stage of her life, to be a teenager. she almost was. alexander mccartney was blackmailing cimarron. he had initially pretended to be a teenage girl to trick cimarron into sending him explicit pictures of herself. he went through the same sickening routine with 3,500 victims, telling them he would post the photos publicly unless they carried out acts of abuse for his sexual

online abusers, who drove one of his victims to take her own life, has been jailed for life at belfast crown courtalexander mccartney admitted 185 charges involving 70 children, although the court was told the number of victims is actually much higher. mccartney, who's 26, posed as a young girl in order to befriend girls on the instant messaging service snapchat, before going on to blackmail them. the judge said mccartney had used social media on an industrial scale to inflict catastrophic damage. this report from chris page contains distressing details. cimarron thomas lived thousands of miles away from the abuser who caused her death. why? "why" was the biggest question. why? this was the sunday we took her home before her passing. she has bright red lipstick on, getting into that stage of her life, to be a teenager. she almost was. alexander mccartney was blackmailing cimarron. he had initially pretended to be a teenage girl to trick cimarron into sending him explicit pictures of herself. he went through the same sickening routine with 3500 victims, telling them he would post the photos publicl

our ireland correspondent chris page was at the pre—sentence hearing at belfast crown court. ed was unquantifiable. the charges relate to more than 60 child victims, but the court heard that in reality, there were many more. mccartney befriended them online posing as a teenage girl. he tricked them into sending him explicit images of themselves, and then he blackmailed themselves, and then he blackmailed the children. he said he would post the children. he said he would post the photos publicly unless they did what he said. and he ordered them to carry out what were described as acts of humiliation and abuse for his own sexual gratification. his victims were aged between ten and 16. they were right across the world. one of them was a 12—year—old girl from outside the uk who took her own life six years ago. in the court, a statement was read out from her relatives. they said they had been robbed of many years with her. mccartney has pleaded guilty to manslaughter over her death. he has also admitted almost 200 other offences. he is 26 now. he was 17 when he began committing the

the judge at belfast crown court said mccartney used social media on an "industrial scale" to inflictle and catastrophic" damage on young girls across the world. police believe thousands of children were targeted, with many victims never identified. chris page reports. cimarron thomas lived thousands of miles away from the abuser who caused her death. why? "why" was the biggest question. why? this was the sunday we took her home before her passing. she has bright red lipstick on, getting into that stage of her life, to be a teenager. she almost was. alexander mccartney was blackmailing cimarron. he had initially pretended to be a teenage girl to trick cimarron into sending him explicit pictures of herself. he went through the same sickening routine with 3500 victims, telling them he would post the photos publicly unless they carried out acts of abuse for his sexual gratification. three minutes after mccartney's last message to cimarron, the emergency services received this call. 18 months later, cimarron�*s father ben took his own life without knowing what had led to his daughter's su

the 26 year old has been sentenced to life at belfast crown court for what were described as a series of depraved crimes. the judge , of depraved crimes. the judge, mr justice o'hara, said that mccartney's abuse scarred the childhoods of his young victims. one of whom, a 12 year old girl, sadly took her own life following those crimes. >> mccartney did admit to targeting around 3500 children across over 30 countries using a fake identity online to exploit them . and in other news today, a them. and in other news today, a nazi obsessed knifeman who attempted to kill an asylum seeker has been found guilty of attempted murder. callum parslow stabbed nahum chagos in the chest at a worcestershire hotel in april. after planning the attack and creating a terrorist manifesto. jurors heard how the 32 year old, a self—proclaimed white supremacist, fled the scene with blood on his hands attempting to post a manifesto onune attempting to post a manifesto online targeting political figures. police also later found nazi paraphernalia in his home, including hitler's signature tattooed on his arm. pa

we are here for our correspondent at belfast crown court that before imposing the sentence the judge said the offending was of the most serious type and also that there was a likelihood of alexander mccartney offending again. i willjust warn you the details that we will be hearing following this breaking news are upsetting. i'm just making that absolutely clear before we go any further with this breaking news story. i can confirm that alexander mccartney, 26—year—old has now been sentenced to life in prison and he must serve a minimum of 20 years. was handed a life sentence with a minimum 20 years. our ireland correspondent richard morgan is outside the court in belfast. bring us up—to—date. before we speak, i'm once again warning our viewers that details from this case are very, very difficult. they are very upsetting. bring us up—to—date with this breaking news. the? with this breaking news. they are upsetting _ with this breaking news. they are upsetting the _ with this breaking news. they are upsetting the true - with this breaking news. tie: are upsetting the true horror of mcca