“At the time, I was just so happy that someone was giving me attention and making me feel special and making me feel loved”
A childhood victim of an online ‘catfish’ predator has described how the convicted, serial groomer manipulated her at a vulnerable age by “making me feel special”.
The woman, who is now 18, was just 15 when she was targeted by the online ‘catfish’ offender Max Hollingsbee, a 21-year-old of Orient Circle in Lurgan, who was sentenced in May to five years and two months after admitting scores of child sexual abuse crimes against girls.
Speaking to Belfast Live, the teenager said the “red flags” began when the serial offender “started getting demanding” in his requests for explicit images. She was the first to come forward and report to police, prompting an investigation that would uncover 13 more victims and is speaking out now to back a new campaign to raise awareness of the dangers for children online.
READ MORE: Victims of NI catfish abuser Alexander McCartney speak outREAD MORE: Catfish Max Hollingsbee sentenced for scores of child sexual abuse crimes against girls
Immy (not her real name) described how she first came into contact with the ‘catfish’ predator through an app known as Wizz, before their communications moved onto Snapchat.
“It moved over to Snapchat and then we still continued to talk in normal conversations,” she said.
“I, at the time, wasn’t very confident in person so, for me, social media was really quite helpful in the sense that I could communicate with people how I wanted to, and I didn’t have to feel nervous that they were looking at me or like things like that that.
“And then it got to the point where it then moved over on to phone numbers, so we exchanged phone numbers. That’s when it got quite bad because then he knew he had me in his pocket.”
She continued: “We got talking and then he started asking me for explicit photos. At the time, I was just so happy that someone was giving me attention and making me feel special and making me feel loved. Like, I was at such a vulnerable age where you’re starting to learn what you actually like, people that you like, people that you don’t like, things like that.
“It’s such a vulnerable age and that’s that’s probably why I’ve got targeted. And when he started asking me for those explicit photos, he got more and more demanding about it. That’s when my first red flags started going, when he started getting demanding and started saying ‘no I want this’ and ‘no I want that’ and like, very specific instructions. And I was so scared, I was thinking ‘I don’t know what he’s going to do if I don’t do this’.”
She said the catfish then began to make threats.
“The threats start coming in – ‘if you don’t do this, I’m going to show people this photo’ and, like, ‘I’m gonna do this and that’,” she explained.
“That’s when my brain snapped into gear and I was like ‘no 16-year-old would speak to me like that’. And I didn’t even answer the threat. I immediately just ran straight to my mom’s room, practically threw my phone at her face and went ‘What do I do now?’.”
She said that, after seeking her parents’ help, things began to move quickly and the police became involved.
She added: “I was so panicked that I practically blacked out.”
Immy described it as “gut wrenching” to discover there were multiple other victims. She praised her mother’s actions and is now urging parents to make sure their children feel they can open up to them.
“She was incredible, she’s such an amazing woman and she was so calm throughout the entire day,” Immy said.
“I think it’s a case of ‘you have to tell someone’, and you have to, as a parent, especially, you have to make sure you have that relationship with your child that they can tell you and not feel embarrassed.
“That’s my biggest piece of advice, especially, for the parents. The kids are going to do silly things – you have to tell someone. You have to. Honestly, I couldn’t even imagine what would happen if I hadn’t have said something.”
The PSNI say online sexual offences against children are becoming an increasing crime type in Northern Ireland. There were 2,187 sexual offences against children recorded in 2024, 187 of which relate to grooming and sexual communication with a child. 799 offences relating to taking, possessing, sharing or publishing indecent images of children were reported in 2024.
Detective Superintendent Jordan Piper from the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s Public Protection Branch said: “Groomers like McCartney and Hollingsbee operate in a very similar way, concealing their identity online pretending to be the same age as a child. They use fake profile pictures, pretending to have similar interests to gain the trust of the child before steering the conversation to a sexual nature.
“Once trust in established, they use power and control to make, force, blackmail, guilt or trick a child into doing what the groomer wants. They may persuade a child to take part in online sexual activity including sharing explicit images and videos and livestreaming sexual acts.”
A police spokesperson said: “Recognising the signs of online grooming can be hard as often child predators are incredibly manipulative and tell children not to talk to anyone about it. Sometimes children don’t realise they’ve been groomed and may believe they are in a ‘relationship’.
Police say signs a child may be being groomed include:
- Sudden changes in behaviour, such as spending more or less time online
- Spending more time away or going missing from home or school
- Being secretive about how they’re spending their time, including online
- Having unexplained gifts, big or small
- Misusing alcohol and/or drugs
- Having a friendship or relationship with a much older person
- Developing sexual health problems
- Using sexual language you wouldn’t expect them to know
- Seeming upset, worried, sad, withdrawn, angry, stressed, anxious or depressed
In November 2024, the BBC, with support from the PSNI, aired a documentary series called Teen Predator/Online Killer about prolific online child groomer and abuser Alexander McCartney from Newry. This case led to the death of a 12-year-old girl in America who took her own life after being targeted and abused by McCartney.
Clips from the series have now been made available for a social media campaign, funded by SBNI, to raise awareness to more young people about how these predators are operating in online spaces and to encourage more victims to report.
Independent Chair of the Safeguarding Board for Northern Ireland, Bernie McNally said: “No child should ever feel alone, afraid or manipulated by someone hiding behind a screen. Yet every day, online predators exploit the trust and innocence of young people, often in silence and secrecy. This campaign is a vital reminder of the urgent need for education, vigilance and open, honest conversations with our children.”
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