PSNI under scrutiny over world-wide catfish killer case

UTV can reveal details of an investigation by the Police Ombudsman into the PSNI’s handling of one of the biggest catfish child abuse cases in the world.

That predator – Alexander McCartney - from Co Armagh is now behind bars awaiting sentencing after admitting more than 180 vile crimes.

And it includes the manslaughter of a 12-year-old girl from overseas - he drove to suicide.

The 25-year-old lurked behind fake identities on social media such as snapchat to exploit and blackmail children…

His five-year reign of terror from 2013 leaving a trail of victims – more than 60 – all over the globe as far away as Americia and New Zealand.

Now news…a separate investigation has been completed by the Police Ombudsman into the police’s the handling of the case in the early days.

Sources have told UTV that before the enormity of what McCartney was up to became apparent, his house was searched twice and his computers were seized for examination.

That didn’t happen straightaway and they stayed in a queue for some time.

This raising concerns about whether victims could have been identified and alerted sooner.

Police referred themselves for investigation to the Police Ombudsman.

In a statement, the Ombudsman’s office said:

In 2021, the Chief Constable asked the Police Ombudsman to investigate concerns about the initial stages of the PSNI’s investigation of online child sex offences by Alexander McCartney. The concerns included that the forensic examination of McCartney’s computers and electronic devices may have been delayed.

Our investigation of the issues identified by the Chief Constable is now complete, and we are in the process of drafting our report.

Online security expert Jim Gamble says this raises many issues.

“The lessons that may come from this for the police could be terrible, he said.

“And I'm not talking about an officer being held to account or suspended, you know, or disciplinary action taken.

“I'm talking about these police officers, the young men and women who are involved in this type of work, their mums and dads, their parents themselves, their brothers and sisters.

“If they find out in the aftermath of this that they had something sitting on, a shelf that could have prevented a tragedy could have prevented abuse or further abuse.

“They're human beings. They're going to feel that”

The ombudsman’s office has confirmed there are no recommendations for disciplinary proceedings – but the findings may be significant.

“This is going to be a reality check for people,” Mr Gamble added.

“I think when the truth comes out, it's going to be a wake up call and as part of that wake up call, the programme of government in Northern Ireland needs to not only look at the capacity of policing offline, but the capacity to invest in policing online because it is fundamentally integrated into everything that the police will be doing now and in the future.”

Police say it would inappropriate to comment given the ombudsman investigation.

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