Five-year sentence for man who 'catfished' girls online
Max Hollingsbee was sentenced on Friday.
- Published
A 21-year-old County Armagh man has been sentenced to five years and two months for a litany of online sexual offences against teenage girls.
On Friday, Max Hollingsbee, of Orient Circle in Lurgan, was sentenced for his crimes against 14 girls and young women.
His crimes fall into the broader field of online catfishing – where someone uses a false identity to gain the trust of someone before exploiting them, also often referred to as "sextortion".
Hollingsbee had previously pleaded guilty to 42 charges across two indictments, which prosecutors believe represents all of his offending.
The offences included causing children under 16 to engage in sexual activity, blackmail, possessing indecent photographs, attempted intimidation, unauthorised access to computer material, sexual communications with a child and the distribution of indecent images of a child.
Half of his sentence will be served in prison and half on licence.
'Sophisticated series of offences'
At Craigavon Crown Court, Judge Donna McColgan said Hollingsbee's offending had taken place between 2021 and 2023 when he was 17-19.
He used apps including Whizz, Snapchat and Instagram to befriend and exploit victims, blackmailing them into providing him with explicit images.
The court heard that Hollingsbee had an IQ in the top 4% of the population with a particular expertise in technology which he used for nefarious purposes.
He hacked some of the girls' accounts to obtain further images.
The court heard police had been unable to work out how he had managed to do this in some of the cases.
The court heard Hollingsbee had low self esteem and had been bullied from a young age but had exhibited an addiction to power, control and sexual satisfaction.
The judge said Hollingsbee had left one of his victims petrified, crying in her bed.
Others had declined to speak about what had happened to them.
Catherine Kierans says Hollingsbee was 17 when he began abusing girls online
According to Public Prosecution Service assistant director Catherine Kierans, Hollingsbee was 17 when he began abusing girls online.
"He pretended to be a younger male and on occasions a female to gain the trust of other younger people," she said.
"He then proceeded to threaten and extort these children to provide him with naked images of themselves."
Ms Kierans said 14 young women across the UK were now dealing with the fallout of the case which, like others of its kind, began on social media.
"He was using the platforms that are out there where young people gather online," she said.
"What he also did was try to sell the images and then blackmail the people who were trying to buy the images.
"So it was quite a sophisticated series of offences."
Thousands of images
Hollingsbee's abuse was brought to a halt after some of his victims came forward.
In October 2022 the Police Service of Northern Ireland were contacted by Surrey Police about a report of a 15-year-old girl who had been groomed by Hollingsbee, who despite being 18 who was telling victims he was a 16 year old boy.
Detectives went to Hollingsbee's house, arrested and interviewed him.
His devices were seized, uncovering thousands of photos and videos of underage girls performing sexual acts whilst being blackmailed or from hacking their social media accounts.
Police said once he had accessed images of his victims he used them to blackmail them to provide more.
The images were then advertised online via social media accounts.
Messages linked to these accounts showed Hollingsbee communicating with other child predators, not located in Northern Ireland, negotiating payments for content and boasting about the large collection of indecent images and videos he had
Once payment was received he then blackmailed them too by threatening to report them to police if they did not send more money.
Tech savvy predators
Det Insp Chris Fleming said Hollingsbee was "a child predator who was financially benefitting from his exploits and inflicted trauma".
"We have worked long hours, alongside the Public Prosecution Service, on this case to bring him to justice today and are still working behind the scenes to identify more of his victims," he said.
"People have an image of a paedophile in their minds, a 'creepy' old man hanging around play parks.
"The digital world has warped this and parents need to be aware that perpetrators are getting younger and more tech savvy.
"Not everyone your child speaks to online is who they say they are and they may have a sinister intent."