A Co Armagh man has confessed a catalogue of sex offences committed against eight young girls during a so-called catfishing crime spree.
Max Hollingsbee (20), with an address at Orient Circle in Lurgan, entered guilty pleas to 28 charges including having indecent images of children, unauthorised computer access, blackmail, sexual communication with a child and inciting a child to distribute an indecent image.
Offending occurred between June 2021 and April 2023.
At Craigavon Crown Court on Thursday, prosecuting counsel Joseph Murphy asked for four other charges to be marked as “left on the books”.
None of the facts surrounding the charges were opened on Thursday, but during an earlier bail application a police officer recounted how Hollingsbee, who was previously a student at Belfast Met, had been coercing children into sending him explicit images and then blackmailing them.
Hollingsbee had created fake social media accounts pretending to be both male and female asking children to send them indecent photos of themselves.
In court on Thursday, defence KC Eugene Grant asked for sentencing to be adjourned to allow time for the probation board to compile a pre-sentence report while Mr Murphy suggested the victims may also wish to make Victim Impact Statements.
Remanding Hollingsbee back into custody and ordering that he must now sign the police sex offenders register, Judge Donna McColgan KC said she would deal with case on November 21.