The sentencing of 21-year-old Max Hollingsbee on Friday for online sex offences involving teenage girls has once again shone a light on the north’s growing ‘catfishing’ problem.
Hollingsbee’s sentencing for 42 charges of online child sexual abuse crimes and blackmail marks the latest case in a series over the past year.
The process of ‘catfishing’, which involves the act of creating a fictitious identity online in order to deceive or trick others into interacting with them, has been a feature of several high-profile cases.
Alexander McCartney – 26
McCartney was sentenced to life behind bars after orchestrating one of the world’s largest catfishing operations, described by police as “a paedophile enterprise”, from his bedroom in Newry.
Alexander McCartney was jailed for a minimum of 20 years at Belfast Crown Court (PSNI/PA)
In October 2024, the 26-year-old from the Lissumon Road was sentenced after admitting to 185 charges involving 70 child victims.
However, the full extent of his offending is estimated to have involved more than 3,500 victims in at least 30 countries.
McCartney, whose offending began as a late teen and operated between 2013 and 2019, would groom victims into believing they were talking online with a girl of a similar age.
He would then encourage them to send indecent images or engage in sexual activity via webcam or a mobile phone, before sharing them with other paedophiles online and using them to threaten the children.
One of his victims, 12-year-old Cimarron Thomas from West Virginia in the United States, took her own life rather than obeying his threats.
Cimarron Thomas took her own life while being blackmailed by McCartney (PSNI/PA)
Police said that on one “harrowing occasion” it took McCartney only nine minutes to groom, sexually abuse and blackmail a girl of only 12 years of age.
David John Andrews – 55
Andrews was sentenced to 27 years in prison, with a minimum of 13 and a half years, in December 2024, after pleading guilty to 130 charges of sexual abuse relating to 47 victims – all of which, excluding one, were children.
Most of his offences related to catfishing, but some also related to the direct abuse of a vulnerable adult woman.
The 55-year-old, whose offending occurred mostly between 2019 and 2020, posed on social media as a teenage boy in order to contact young girls.
His youngest victim was aged just eight.
David John Andrews (55) from Belfast was sentenced to 27 years in prison
The judge told the court at the time that he “cynically and with clear pre-meditation, used threats to inveigle and coerce [children] to share images of themselves with him”.
Max Hollingsbee – 21
The latest in the north’s series of prolific catfishing-related offenders, Hollingsbee was sentenced to 31 months in prison and 31 months on licence on May 9.
With his time already spent on remand, it is believed he will be released in November.
He previously pleaded guilty to 42 charges which included inciting a child to take part in sexual activity and possessing indecent photographs.
Hollingsbee’s offending, which took place while aged between 17 and 19, involved targeting at last 14 victims from across the UK.
Police hand out image of Max Hollingsbee.
With an IQ in the top 4%, he hacked some girls’ accounts to gather images and police were unable to work out how he had managed to do so in some instances.
His victims were mostly under 18, however he also targeted one woman above 18 and obtained images of her without her permission.
Awaiting sentencing
There is currently one other individual awaiting sentencing after admitting to a ‘vast’ catfishing enterprise which involved targeting multiple child victims and blackmailing them into sending indecent images.
Charges against the man, who is aged in his 20s, include 36 counts of possessing indecent child images and two of inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity.
His victims were all male children, some of whom were blackmailed.