The details are sickening, the scale almost unimaginable and the tragedy absolute. Alexander McCartney’s crimes – the catfishing, blackmail and sexual exploitation of at least 70 known child victims across the globe – represent a level of depravity that beggars belief.
The actions of the Co Armagh man caused unquantifiable harm, the degradation of young lives and, in the cruellest turn, the death by suicide of 12-year-old American girl Cimarron Thomas, whom he had blackmailed, followed by the suicide of her father, Benjamin Jay Thomas.
McCartney, of Lissummon Road outside Newry, was last year sentenced to life imprisonment for 185 offences linked to the online sexual abuse of children living as far away as New Zealand and the US.
For a few short, shocking days, this case dominated the headlines. The horror elicited outrage, visceral disgust and sadness.
But the news cycle has moved on. The initial blaze of anger has cooled, and other events and stories are occupying our attention.
This, in itself, i
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