A MAN from Lurgan who used the so-called 'catfish' method to groom and coerce teenage girls into sending him indecent images has been jailed.
At Craigavon Crown Court on Friday, 21-year-old Max Hollingsbee was sentenced to five years and two months after pleading guilty to a total of 42 charges.
The charges included blackmail, possessing indecent images of children, distributing indecent images of a child, sexual communication with a child, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and unauthorised access to computer material.
"Max Hollingsbee used lies and deception to target and groom young victims for his own despicable ends," said Catherine Kierans, Head of the PPS Serious Crime Unit.
Blackmail
Hollingsbee's offences involving 14 female victims, mostly from England, were carried out over a period of almost two years when he was aged between 17 and 19.
He would typically befriend his victims — usually girls between the ages of 14 and 16, as well as one woman over 18 — on social media platforms, telling them he was a 16-year-old boy.
Hollingsbee would flatter his victims before asking them to send him indecent images, while he convinced some to give him their social media logins, allowing him access to all their photos.
However, some victims were unaware that he had their images, which suggests he had hacked into their accounts
Once Hollingsbee had the images, he used them to blackmail his victims into providing more, in some cases threatening to send them to the victim's contacts.
The pictures were then advertised online via social media accounts.
Messages linked to the accounts show Hollingsbee communicated with other child predators, negotiating payments for content and boasting of his collection of indecent images and videos.
Once payment was received, Hollingsbee would then blackmail the buyer by threatening to report them to police if they did not send more money.
Hollingbee's offending came to light In October 2022 after the PSNI were contacted by Surrey Police.
A 15-year-old girl had reported being groomed by a then 18-year-old Hollingsbee, who had claimed he was a 16-year-old boy.
Hollingsbee was arrested and his devices seized, uncovering thousands of photos and videos of underage girls performing sexual acts, which had been obtained through blackmail or hacking.
Many of the children were too afraid to speak to their parents and guardians about the abuse and were only identified by police through the evidence located on Hollingsbee's devices.
Investigators believe there are potentially more victims of Hollngsbee that have not yet come forward.
'Child predator'
Ms Kierans said Hollingbee's offending 'showed a level of devious sophistication, using a variety of methods to obtain indecent images of his victims and exert control over them'.
“Once Hollingsbee had gained their trust using lies and deception, he manipulated, coerced and in some cases blackmailed his victims into sending him explicit images of themselves," she added.
"He also sometimes hacked into private areas of victims' social media accounts to obtain indecent images of them."
Speaking on Friday, Detective Inspector Chris Fleming said: "We welcome today's sentencing. Hollingsbee is 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.
"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."
Hollingsbee will served half of his sentence on licence.
He will be subjected to a Sexual Offences Prevention Order for 10 years and has been placed on the Sex Offenders' Register for life.
See More: Catfishing, Lurgan
