Jailed for life: Predator who posed online as teen girl and drove 12-year-old to suicide

A BRITISH predator was given a life sentence yesterday after befriending and blackmailing "thousands" of young girls online.

- Jonathan McCambridge, Rebecca Black and David Young

Alexander McCartney, 26, admitted 185 charges involving 70 children - including the manslaughter of a 12-year-old American, who killed herself rather than comply with his demands to involve her younger sister in sex acts. Eighteen months later, her heartbroken dad also took his own life.

Sentencing McCartney to a minimum of 20 years' jail at Belfast Crown Court, Mr Justice O'Hara said: "It is truly difficult to think of a sexual deviant who poses a greater risk than this defendant."

Catastrophic

The court heard that McCartney, from Newry, Northern Ireland, carried out his offending from the bedroom of his childhood home. He would pose as a teenage girl on the messaging app Snapchat to befriend young females across the world - before blackmailing them.

Investigators believe the number of children abused could be as high as 3,500 - making him one of the world's most prolific online offenders.