Delays in a criminal investigation into a Co Armagh man at the centre of one of the world’s largest catfishing cases were caused by “insufficient resourcing” at the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), a watchdog has found.
A scathing review by the Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland concluded that PSNI cybercrime teams had neither the capacity nor capability to “effectively manage the risk” posed by online child sex abuser Alexander McCartney.
The ability of police to keep children “safe” had been “significantly compromised”, it found.
McCartney (27), of Lissummon Road outside Newry, was last year sentenced to life imprisonment for 185 offences linked to the online sexual abuse of 70 children living as far away as New Zealand and the US.
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However, police believe the former Ulster University computer science student – who operated from his bedroom in his family home – targeted more than 3,500 children globally.
In a legal first, McCartney also pleaded guilty to manslaughter after his blackmailing of an American girl, Cimarron Thomas (12), led to her suicide in 2018.
Catfishing involves using a fake online identity to target other online users, which can then lead to sexual abuse, exploitation and blackmail.
The police watchdog report, published on Monday, found that despite being first arrested in 2016 – when his home was searched and indecent child images were found – it would take more than two years before McCartney’s second interview, which related to some 1,100 indecent images discovered on his phone, tablet and five computers.
Cimarron Thomas died just five days before McCartney’s second interview in 2018, the review noted.
Multiple false claims were made by McCartney to his victims including that he was a victim of catfishing himself, had suffered childhood abuse and had been placed in foster care.
He preyed on young girls online by posing as a teenage girl on the social media platform Snapchat. Instagram and other messaging sites were also used.
At the time of the initial arrest, the lead PSNI detective in the case had only five officers in a team against the full complement of 14 due to staff absence and “other factors”, according to the ombudsman.
“This resulted in delays in the investigation and potential prosecution of those whose activities pose such a risk to children and young people, and opportunities to proactively follow evidence to identify where indecent images of children were being shared were missed,” the organisation’s chief executive Hugh Hume said.
“Consequently, the PSNI’s ability to identify other offenders, frustrate sharing forums and ultimately protect children and young people were compromised.”
The PSNI said it was “deeply sorry for any further distress these findings may cause” and it accepted that it “could have done better”.
It had asked the ombudsman’s office to conduct an independent review of the McCartney investigation.
Mr Hume said it was “clear” the service was “under-resourced and under pressure”.
The report also criticised the PSNI’s handling of McCartney’s bail conditions, describing it as “ineffective”.
Apart from being required to attend a police station to answer bail on three occasions during the first year after the 2016 arrest, no other measures were taken by police to ensure he was complying.
“As a result, his continued offending went completely unchecked during this time,” said Mr Hume.
Overstretched staff within the PSNI’s Child Internet Protection Team (CIPT) were unable to adequately impose or manage meaningful bail conditions “such as restrictions around internet usage, due to unacceptable delays and excessive workload”, the report found.
“The lack of resources available to the CIPT led to a culture where officers imposed superficial, ineffective and unsupervised bail conditions upon suspects and offenders,” Mr Hume added.
The watchdog’s investigation identified no misconduct by any individual police officer given the pressures they had been under.
Responding to the findings, PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Davy Beck said while improvements have been made, resources continue to decline and are now “lower than ever in the history of the PSNI”.
