A “despicable” groomer who “catfished” teenage girls before manipulating them into sending him indecent images, has been jailed for more than five years after admitting scores of child sexual abuse crimes.
Max Hollingsbee, 21, of Orient Circle in Lurgan, Co Armagh, “catfished” teenage girls, groomed and then coerced them into sending him indecent images.
Police have identified at least nine girls and young women from across the UK preyed on by Hollingsbee to quench his “addiction to power, control and sexual satisfaction”, Craigavon Crown Court heard.
The charges against him included inciting a child to take part in sexual activity, possessing indecent photographs and unauthorised access to computer material between 2021 and 2023.
He previously pleaded guilty to some 42 charges.
At Friday’s sentencing hearing, Judge Donna McColgan told Hollingsbee he will spend 31 months in prison, and 31 months on licence.
One of his victims said she was petrified and crying in her bed during her ordeal, the court heard.
Another said in a statement that she could not understand why someone would inflict what he did on another person.
Hollingsbee was between 17 and 19 years old when he “catfished” teenage girls, using a fake online ID, grooming them and forcing them to send him indecent images.
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Using social media platforms, he blackmailed his victims to send more explicit pictures and hacked into other girls’ accounts to get hold of pictures and set up fake accounts with images he had obtained.
Thousands of photos and videos of underage girls performing sexual acts were found on his devices, after one of his victims alerted police, leading to his arrest in November 2022.
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Many of the pictures, which had been obtained by blackmail or by hacking victims’ social media accounts, were advertised online and sold for payment.
He was arrested again on April 7 2023 and was found to have broken his bail conditions from the initial arrest, and also to have continued his offending.
The court heard Hollingsbee, who will be on the sex offenders register for life, was highly intelligent, with an IQ in the top 4% but had an “addiction to power, control and sexual satisfaction”.
In a statement, the head of the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) Serious Crime Unit, Catherine Kierans, said Hollingsbee “used lies and deception to target and groom young victims for his own despicable ends”.
“He manipulated, coerced and in some cases blackmailed his victims into sending him explicit images of themselves.”
Speaking outside court, Detective Inspector Chris Fleming described the defendant as a “child predator”, who “has caused serious and long-lasting harm”.
