A serial sex predator manipulated, coerced and blackmailed more than a dozen young girls across the UK into sending him explicit images of themselves.
Max Hollingsbee, 21, used his computer to target at least 13 children and one young woman with his victims living in Surrey, Sunderland, Doncaster and Scotland.
Posing as a teenager called ‘Matt’, he coerced one schoolgirl into sending him explicit photos of herself.
The 15-year-old schoolgirl told police she had an online conversation with someone claiming to be 16 and from Scotland via a platform called Wizz before the conversation moved to the Snapchat app and texts.
She said ‘Matt’ persuaded her to send images of herself in her underwear and topless before ‘pestering’ her for more explicit images and the passcodes to her Snapchat and the ‘My Eyes Only’ section of her Snapchat account.
A short time after she agreed, the girl received a video from ‘Matt’ showing a computer screen containing downloads of explicit images from her Snapchats.
Hollingsbee then sent her a message declaring: ‘You’ve seen what I can do. Want to talk business?’
Using her images, he then created multiple other Snapchat accounts.
A serial sex predator manipulated, coerced and blackmailed more than a dozen young girls across the UK into sending him explicit images of themselves. Max Hollingsbee (pictured), 21, used his computer to target at least 13 children and one young woman with his victims living in Surrey, Sunderland, Doncaster and Scotland
Detective Inspector Chris Fleming (pictured) said Hollingsbee was ‘a child predator who was financially benefitting from his exploits and inflicted trauma’
Judge Donna McColgan KC told Craigavon Crown Court in Northern Ireland (pictured): ‘Analysis of his devices revealed large quantities of indecent images of children and during the course of their investigation, police were able to identify some, but not all of the victims’
Police in Northern Ireland were able to identify the defendant and raided his home on November 11, 2022.
His mother told them that he had gone to the airport to fly to England to meet a girl and officers intercepted him at Belfast International Airport.
The following March police in Northern Ireland were informed of an investigation in Scotland where a 17-year-old girl claimed that Hollingsbee had threatened to send explicit photos of her around her school.
Hollingsbee was re-arrested and during that search police found another mobile phone which showed he was active on Instagram and TikTok portraying himself as a female making posts of a sexual nature.
Judge Donna McColgan KC told Craigavon Crown Court in Northern Ireland: ‘Analysis of his devices revealed large quantities of indecent images of children and during the course of their investigation, police were able to identify some, but not all of the victims.’
The judge said one victim was initially ‘catfished’ by Hollingsbee but went on to have a relationship with him.
The judge explained: ‘During the early stages of the relationship, he suggested that they would exchange passwords to their social media accounts as a sign of their mutual trust for each other.’
But instead, Hollingsbee used his access to obtain explicit images of the victim.
‘It is particularly sinister that the defendant used this young lady, who apparently viewed herself as his girlfriend at the time, to get access to the victim’s younger sister and her younger sister’s friend,’ added Judge McColgan.
Hollingsbee, from Lurgan, Co Armagh, entered guilty pleas to a total of 42 offences between June 2021 and April 2023 which included having indecent images of children including category A, B and C images of each victim and four charges of inciting or causing children to engage in sexual activity with children aged 13 to 16.
He was jailed for five years and will remain on the police sex offenders register for the rest of his life.
Detective Inspector Chris Fleming said Hollingsbee was ‘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,’ he said.
‘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.’
