A Police Ombudsman investigation has concluded that PSNI cybercrime teams did not have the capacity or capability to effectively manage the risk posed by online child sex abuser Alexander McCartney.

The Ombudsman's finding stated that teams tasked with detecting and investigating online child sexual abuse were significantly under-resourced and under pressure.

McCartney, from Newry, Co. Down, was sentenced to a minimum of 20 years in prison in October 2024 for offences including unlawful act manslaughter, inciting children to engage in sexual activity, and making and possessing indecent images of children. The investigation was initiated after the PSNI Chief Constable raised concerns about the handling of the case.

Chief Executive Hugh Hume confirmed that while no misconduct was identified among individual police officers due to the pressures they faced, under-resourcing resulted in significant delays and failures:

• Delayed Forensic Examinations: There was a gap of over two years and three months between McCartney's initial arrest in February 2016 and him being interviewed again about over 1,100 indecent images found on his devices. The delays were due to an insufficient resourcing amidst a growing backlog of digital devices requiring examination. • Compromised Safety: During the two-year period between his first and second interview, McCartney was involved in abusive online communications with at least seven other children, including Cimarron Thomas from West Virginia, US, who took her own life in May 2018 immediately after contact with him. Cimarron's father also took his own life in January 2020.

• Ineffective Bail Management: The investigation found that the lack of resources available to the Child Internet Protection Team (CIPT) led to superficial, ineffective, and unsupervised bail conditions. Apart from three required attendances, no measures were taken to ensure McCartney complied with his bail conditions for the first year after his initial arrest, allowing his offending to go "completely unchecked".

Mr Hume stressed that despite the PSNI's Cybercrime Centre accepting applications for the examination of some 935 computers and 284 mobile phones in 2018, sufficient investment was not allocated to increase human and technical resourcing.

He argued that McCartney's targeting of young girls is a clear example of violence against women and girls in the digital space and should carry equal weight in the prioritisation of digital forensic examinations alongside terrorism and serious crime.

The Police Ombudsman made no new recommendations to the PSNI, as the failings identified were already known to police through a previous internal review and other reports.