A 21-year-old man who manipulated, coerced and blackmailed more than a dozen victims into sending him explicit images of themselves has today been handed sentences amounting to five years and two months.
Max Hollingsbee, with an address at Orient Circle, Lurgan in Co Armagh, is to serve half his sentence in custody and half under supervised licence conditions.
In addition, Judge Donna McColgan KC said Hollingsbee would remain on the police sex offenders register for the rest of his life, as well as being subject to a ten-year sexual offences prevention order.
As the judge announced the sentence at Craigavon Crown Court, Hollingsbee showed little to no reaction.
With time spent on remand it is understood that Hollingsbee, who coerced and intimidated 13 children and one young woman, will be freed in November.
Hollingsbee was aged between 17 and 19 when he used the so-called 'catfish' method to groom and coerce teenage girls into sending him indecent images.
Judge McColgan said his offending was aggravated because of the number of victims, the length of time the offending went on for, the fact that he continued to offend even after his initial arrest, and being on police bail and the fact that in an almost domino effect, he used one victim's details to identify and then exploit further victims.
It was also a factor that he had used "a high degree of information technology knowledge for dangerous means," said the judge, adding that even police experts "were unable to explain how he was able to hack some off these accounts".
In September last year Hollingsbee entered guilty pleas to 28 charges and then a further 14 offences in March this year relating to offences committed against a total of 14 victims between 10 June 2021 and 7 April 2023.
Hollingsbee had previously pleaded guilty to 42 charges across two indictments, which prosecutors believe represent all of his offending.
They included having indecent images of children, four charges of inciting or causing children to engage in sexual activity with children aged between 13 and 16, four counts of unauthorised computer access, and single offences of blackmail, sexual communication with a child and inciting a child to distribute an indecent image.
Having listed the multitude of aggravating features, Judge McColgan said the authorities were clear in that all but the most exceptional cases "deterrent custodial sentences should be imposed upon those who engage in blackmail and overlapping or related sexual offending, particularly where the victim is young, vulnerable, or both".
There was also mitigating factors, said the judge, including Hollingsbee’s previously clear record, his guilty pleas and his expressions of remorse.
Revealing that according to reports Hollingbee is "very intelligent with an IQ in line with the top 4% of the population," Judge McColgan said she had "serious reservations" about the PSNI conclusion that Hollingsbee did not meet the criteria to be classed as a dangerous offender.
Having heard further evidence about how they came to that conclusion however, she said she was satisfied that the findings of the probation board were correct.
Using a combination of concurrent and consecutive sentences, Judge McColgan imposed sentences amounting to 62 months to be served half in prison and half under licence conditions.
The judge also imposed a SOPO which puts conditions on where Hollingsbee can live, what devices he can have, how he accesses the internet and bars him from "loitering near child-centered facilities" and from forming any new romantic relationships without verifiable disclosure.
