Her father, Ben Thomas, a former US Army veteran, committed himself eighteen months after his daughter’s untimely death, causing equally tragic consequences.
After a judge in Belfast lifted an anonymity order, the youngster, who is from West Virginia in the United States, can now be named in the UK.
After targeting at least 70 children online, 26-year-old Alexander McCartney, a former computer student from County Armagh in Northern Ireland, entered a guilty plea to manslaughter and is scheduled to be sentenced next week.
He made friends with young people on social media by pretending to be a girl, then used pictures they provided him.
His victims in “the UK’s largest catfish case” were from the UK, continental Europe, America, Australia, and New Zealand, and ranged in age from 10 to 16.
Blackmail, encouraging a kid to have sex, and creating and disseminating pornographic pictures of youngsters were among the 185 offenses he had already admitted.
According to the prosecution, he had been “particularly callous” and had “degraded and humiliated them” by specifically targeting victims who were gay or experimenting with their sexuality.
