Man appears in court charged with Shara Miller's murder
A police spokesperson said they believed Ms Miller was killed in the early hours of the morning at the place where her body was found.
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The Independent
4 minutes ago
- The Independent
Victim of catfish predator Max Hollingsbee: ‘I will always be angry at him for taking my innocence away'
A victim of prolific catfish offender Max Hollingsbee has said she will always be angry that he stole her innocence. A complaint made by Immy (not her real name) led police to discover a litany of sex offences against other teenage girls committed by Hollingsbee. Immy has said she now wants to use her experiences to help other victims. Hollingsbee, 21, of Orient Circle, Lurgan, was sentenced in May to five years and two months after admitting scores of child sexual abuse crimes against girls. He had pleaded guilty to some 42 charges with 14 victims identified. Immy, from the Surrey area, was 15 when she met Hollingsbee, who was using a fake profile, through the Wizz app three years ago. She said: 'He presented himself as being 16 and male. There were photographs which I know now weren't him. 'At the time I didn't see anything wrong with it. I thought you could only talk to people within a certain age range and you had to prove your age. 'We just had normal conversations. I was quite vulnerable at the time. It is an age where you want boys to like you, you want them to show interest in you. He was and he made me feel special, he made me feel seen. 'Now I now it was all part of his plan.' She added: 'Once he had built up the trust I added him on my Snapchat. He started with more compliments, flattery, things like that. 'At 15 years old that is all a girl wants to hear. He knew that and he definitely played on that vulnerability.' The situation escalated quickly with Hollingsbee demanding that Immy send him explicit photographs. She said: 'He would give me very specific instructions. I didn't like it but I didn't know how to say no. I wasn't confident enough to say no. 'I didn't want him to stop talking to me and I didn't want him to stop giving me that attention. 'I did send photos. I obviously regret that but I've never been made to feel embarrassed and I've never been made to feel that it was my fault.' Hollingsbee then attempted to blackmail the teenager, stating he would share the photographs with other people she knew if she did not send more. He did share the images with one of Immy's female friends. At this point she told her mother what was happening. She said: 'That was very scary for me. I was in such a state of panic it was like I blacked out, I was there and I was talking to my mum but I've no idea what I said to her. 'I showed her what was going on and just remember crying in a ball on the floor of her room.' Once police were alerted, Hollingsbee was arrested in Northern Ireland and his devices seized, leading to the discovery of the other victims. Thousands of photos and videos of underage girls performing sexual acts were found on his devices, obtained by blackmail or by hacking their social media accounts. Immy also helped police to track him down. He had given her his phone number and she used to BeReal app to discover his true profile and name. Immy said: 'Finding out there were so many other girls who hadn't said anything was the most gut-wrenching feeling in the entire world because I couldn't imagine not being able to tell someone. 'That was the hardest part, they were sitting at home so scared, so terrified and I knew how they felt because I had been there. 'Knowing they were so scared on their own was the worst feeling. Quite a few of them were younger than me.' She added: 'I am angry, I will always be angry at him for doing that to me and taking my innocence away from me. 'That is what he did. He played on my vulnerability, played on my weaknesses. I was so used and no 15-year-old should ever have to deal with a man like that ever. 'Kids do make mistakes. It is important I am able to talk about it because they need someone their age to say it could happen to you. It can happen. If you don't feel you have got the support at home, the police will take action. They did everything they way I hoped they would.' Immy said she hopes Hollingsbee is able to confront the impact of his actions when he is released from prison. She said: 'I would be happy knowing that he sees the wrong he did. 'I have made a lot of effort to not let it change my outlook about people. 'Not everyone is like that, he is a very specific type of person. But it did take a big toll, I am not as trusting as I used to be. 'But I have stopped a lot of people, I hope, from having to deal with him.' Immy is hoping to study psychology at university and to use her experiences to help other victims. She said: 'I want to be able to go into schools and work with kids, using my experience to make something good. 'I think it is so important that I make something good out of a bad situation. 'I am hoping I will be able to make a difference.'
The Independent
4 minutes ago
- The Independent
Victim of catfish predator says she will always be angry her innocence was stolen
A victim of prolific catfish offender Max Hollingsbee has said she will always be angry that he stole her innocence. A complaint made by Immy (not her real name) led police to discover a litany of sex offences against other teenage girls committed by the Co Armagh man. Immy has said she now wants to use her experiences to help other victims. Hollingsbee, 21, of Orient Circle, Lurgan, was sentenced in May to five years and two months after admitting scores of child sexual abuse crimes against girls. He had pleaded guilty to some 42 charges with 14 victims identified. Immy, from the Surrey area, was 15 when she met Hollingsbee, who was using a fake profile, through the Wizz app three years ago. She said: 'He presented himself as being 16 and male. There were photographs which I know now weren't him. 'At the time I didn't see anything wrong with it. I thought you could only talk to people within a certain age range and you had to prove your age. 'We just had normal conversations. I was quite vulnerable at the time. It is an age where you want boys to like you, you want them to show interest in you. He was and he made me feel special, he made me feel seen. 'Now I now it was all part of his plan.' She added: 'Once he had built up the trust I added him on my Snapchat. He started with more compliments, flattery, things like that. 'At 15 years old that is all a girl wants to hear. He knew that and he definitely played on that vulnerability.' The situation escalated quickly with Hollingsbee demanding that Immy send him explicit photographs. She said: 'He would give me very specific instructions. I didn't like it but I didn't know how to say no. I wasn't confident enough to say no. 'I didn't want him to stop talking to me and I didn't want him to stop giving me that attention. 'I did send photos. I obviously regret that but I've never been made to feel embarrassed and I've never been made to feel that it was my fault.' Hollingsbee then attempted to blackmail the teenager, stating he would share the photographs with other people she knew if she did not send more. He did share the images with one of Immy's female friends. At this point she told her mother what was happening. She said: 'That was very scary for me. I was in such a state of panic it was like I blacked out, I was there and I was talking to my mum but I've no idea what I said to her. 'I showed her what was going on and just remember crying in a ball on the floor of her room.' Once police were alerted, Hollingsbee was arrested in Northern Ireland and his devices seized, leading to the discovery of the other victims. Thousands of photos and videos of underage girls performing sexual acts were found on his devices, obtained by blackmail or by hacking their social media accounts. Immy also helped police to track him down. He had given her his phone number and she used to BeReal app to discover his true profile and name. Immy said: 'Finding out there were so many other girls who hadn't said anything was the most gut-wrenching feeling in the entire world because I couldn't imagine not being able to tell someone. 'That was the hardest part, they were sitting at home so scared, so terrified and I knew how they felt because I had been there. 'Knowing they were so scared on their own was the worst feeling. Quite a few of them were younger than me.' She added: 'I am angry, I will always be angry at him for doing that to me and taking my innocence away from me. 'That is what he did. He played on my vulnerability, played on my weaknesses. I was so used and no 15-year-old should ever have to deal with a man like that ever. ' Kids do make mistakes. It is important I am able to talk about it because they need someone their age to say it could happen to you. It can happen. If you don't feel you have got the support at home, the police will take action. They did everything they way I hoped they would.' Immy said she hopes Hollingsbee is able to confront the impact of his actions when he is released from prison. She said: 'I would be happy knowing that he sees the wrong he did. 'I have made a lot of effort to not let it change my outlook about people. 'Not everyone is like that, he is a very specific type of person. But it did take a big toll, I am not as trusting as I used to be. 'But I have stopped a lot of people, I hope, from having to deal with him.' Immy is hoping to study psychology at university and to use her experiences to help other victims. She said: 'I want to be able to go into schools and work with kids, using my experience to make something good. 'I think it is so important that I make something good out of a bad situation. 'I am hoping I will be able to make a difference.'
BBC News
5 minutes ago
- BBC News
Catfishing victim urges young people to 'tell someone about abuse'
A teenager who was catfished by a prolific sex offender has urged other young victims not to be "embarrassed" and to tell someone they trust about the which is not her real name, was tricked into befriending Max Hollingsbee online. He went on to threaten her into providing naked images. Now 18, she was the first person to report his crimes to the police. Detectives went on to uncover 13 other girls and young women who he targeted. Hollingsbee, 21, from Lurgan, County Armagh, was jailed for five years for a litany of offences including causing children under 16 to engage in sexual activity. His crimes fall into the broader field of online catfishing, where someone uses a false identity to gain the trust of a person before exploiting was 17 when he started his campaign of abuse. He pretended to be a younger boy or girl when contacting other young people before blackmailing them. Immy was 15 when she was targeted. She recalled the "immediate panic" she felt when she realised she was being catfished. She had been educated about catfishing in school but didn't think it could happen to her."In the moment you're so stressed. So my immediate thought was leg it to my mum's room. "I just shoved the phone straight into my mum's hands and I went: 'Help. What do I do?'"And she then phoned the police."Although catfishing is not a specific crime in Northern Ireland, suspects can be prosecuted under other laws. There are thousands of sexual offences against children reported in Northern Ireland every released to BBC News NI though a Freedom of Information request show the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) made 478 arrests for sexual communication with a child between 2019 and the same period, 175 people were convicted of sexual communications with a PSNI also recorded 799 offences in 2024 relating to the taking, possessing, sharing or publishing of indecent images of children. Alexander McCartney among NI 'catfish' cases Max Hollingsbee is not the only "catfish" to have appeared in Northern Ireland's young man from County Tyrone is awaiting sentencing on similar last October, Alexander McCartney was jailed for at least 20 years in what was described as the UK's largest catfishing case. He had abused thousands of children around the world and the extreme nature of his demands led to the death of a young girl in the United States. The case spurred the PSNI's new Trust Trap campaign, which uses footage from a BBC documentary on to PSNI Det Supt Jordan Piper "groomers like McCartney and Hollingsbee operate in a very similar way, concealing their identity online and 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." Prosecutors said the availability of social media means the stereotypical image of a child sex offender is Kierans, acting director of the Public Prosection Service (PPS), said there had been a number of cases involving young males abusing children and young people online and that "trend seems to be continuing". "People have this image of paedophiles being creepy older men, but we are seeing younger and younger male offenders, perhaps because they have computer skills to follow through with their impulses."Ms Kierans urged parents to monitor their children's internet habits. Ms Kierans said Hollingsbee, McCartney and the case in County Tyrone were not connected – but the crimes had common were teenagers when they began seeking out younger victims, many of the children they targeted lived abroad and they also used popular social media apps to find and abuse victims, including Snapchat and Wizz. How does catfishing affect children? Marcella Leonard, an expert in the assessment and treatment of sexual trauma, said this type of offending has evolved over said that while the "recording of harm" is not new, the "diversity, breadth and capability of that technology, and how that has changed the type of harm" of the "biggest lessons from McCartney" was the impact on children "being made to do things, to harm themselves, by being blackmailed", she added."But also when an image is being taken of that, they think about: 'Where is that photograph, who has got that, how many copies have been made?'"Immy was diagnosed with anxiety after her experience with Hollingsbee and missed out on school during her GCSE year. What can parents do about catfishing? The issue doesn't just impact teenagers, according to online safety expert Wayne Denner."I'm in primary schools three or four times a week," he said."Three or four years ago, it would have been mostly secondary schools."Mr Denner said abusers use online games, such as Roblox, Minecraft and Fortnite, as well as messaging apps, with more children "getting access to technology from a younger age". He said using technology "in the bedroom, with the door closed, is not a good idea" and urged grandparents, as well as parents, to educate themselves. What can social media companies do about catfishing? The Online Safety Act came into force across the UK on 25 firms must now adopt measures including stricter age verification and identifying a person in their company "accountable for children's safety".A number of campaigners want to see even stricter rules for tech firms or social media bans for under-16s.A spokesperson for Wizz said the firm "takes the subject of catfishing very seriously and is fully committed to protecting our users". It referred BBC News NI to its online safety engagement said the sexual exploitation of any young person is horrific, illegal, and against its Kierans acknowledged it takes bravery for young people, like Immy, to come forward."This type of behaviour is very compulsive and these offenders seek bigger and bigger hits. "They leave a footprint online that police can follow."Immy said she was grateful to her mum for contacting police."Even with the relationship I have with my parents, it's still a very embarrassing conversation to have to have."If you don't tell someone who can think rationally in a situation like that, it could have ended very, very differently for me, 100%."If you have been affected by the issues raised in this story you can visit the BBC Action Line for support.
