Gurugram:

Four people died after they were charred to death as a fire broke out at a house in Saraswati Enclave in Gurugram on Friday. The tragic incident took place late at night while the victims were sleeping in the same room, officials said.

The victims, all residents of Bihar, have been identified as Mohammad Mushtaq (28), Noor Alam (27), Sahil (22), and Aman (17).

They were living in a rented house in J block of the society, officials added.

According to a relative of the victims, Mushtaq and Alam worked as tailors in a garment factory in Gurugram. The 17-year-old victim is a Class 10 student, studying in the same vicinity. While, Sahil, a friend, was visiting them.

“When we went to the incident spot, there was a lot of smoke…we could not go anywhere near it. The police came immediately and called for the fire brigade team. But, it was too late,” he said.

The cause of the fire has not yet been revealed, however, according to one of neighbours, it was due to a short circuit.

Further investigation is underway, the police said.

Belfast, United Kingdom:

A prolific “catfish” offender whose cruel campaign of global online blackmail targeted thousands of young victims and drove a 12-year-old US girl to suicide was on Friday jailed for life.

Alexander McCartney, 26, posed online as a teenage girl to befriend young females across the world on the social media app Snapchat, forcing them to send him explicit pictures, then threatening to make them public. 

He admitted 185 charges involving 70 children and was told he would spend at least 20 years behind bars.

Detective Chief Superintendent Eamonn Corrigan, of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, said McCartney was a “disgusting child predator” whose offending had been on an “industrial scale”.

“Sitting in his childhood bedroom in Newry (in Northern Ireland), he began his offending as a late teenager and built what can only be described as a paedophile enterprise,” he told reporters outside court.

“McCartney is a dangerous, relentless, cruel paedophile,” he added.

Cimarron Thomas from West Virginia in the United States took her own life in May 2018 after McCartney demanded that she involve her younger sister in sex acts he had coerced her into.

Eighteen months later, her distraught father Ben Thomas also died by suicide.

Belfast Crown Court heard earlier other victims had been in the United States as well as in Australia and New Zealand.

‘Sexual deviant’ 

Sentencing McCartney, judge John O’Hara said he was unaware of any other case in which an offender had used social media to “inflict such terrible and catastrophic damage on young girls up to and including the death of a 12-year-old girl”.

“It is truly difficult to think of a sexual deviant who poses a greater risk than this defendant,” he added.

O’Hara said McCartney had been “remorseless” in his offending, ignoring “multiple pleas for mercy”.

Even after his third arrest, he said, the former computer science student kept offending in “an even more sinister, dramatic and appalling manner”.

McCartney previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter relating to Cimarron’s death.

Corrigan told reporters McCartney had even started a countdown when Cimarron threatened to kill herself with a legally owned firearm and told her: “I don’t care.”

“He may as well have pulled the trigger himself,” he added. “There’s only one place for him, that’s behind bars.”

McCartney also admitted 59 counts of blackmail, dozens of charges related to making and distributing indecent photographs and scores more of inciting children to engage in sexual activity.

‘Horrific’

Police in Northern Ireland worked with other forces internationally to bring him to justice.

Derek Gordon, the US special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations based in Washington DC, praised the investigation and prosecution of McCartney by Northern Irish counterparts as “nothing short of brilliant”.

“Alexander McCartney committed some horrific and disturbing crimes and deserves every minute he serves in prison,” he said.

Catherine Kierans, from the Northern Ireland Public Prosecution Service, said McCartney was estimated to have targeted 3,500 girls, some as young as 10.

Despite exhaustive efforts, however, many of his victims may never be identified.

She urged any child or young person to seek help if they were being threatened by someone demanding sexual images or videos.

“This is a crime. You are not to blame. Please talk to a trusted adult,” she said, praising the bravery of the victims who had helped to convict McCartney.

And she called on parents and carers to talk to their children to keep them safe online.

“It is by bringing these issues out into the open that we can break the cycle of secrecy abusers rely on,” she said.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

The Government of the United Kingdom has recruited 200 additional Home Office staff to clear a backlog of 23,300 modern slavery cases left by the last government. The cases could be “eliminated” within two years, according to an official statement. This step will be giving thousands of women, men, and children who may have suffered traumatic sexual, physical, and economic abuse the clarity needed to assist with their recovery.

According to the UK government, currently, many victims face long delays in having their status as a victim of modern slavery confirmed through the national referral mechanism via a conclusive grounds decision. This can lead to prolonged uncertainty and mental health suffering.

“For too long, modern slavery survivors and the harrowing experiences they have lived through have not been given the attention and support they deserve,” Minister for Safeguarding, Jess Phillips, said. “This is going to change. The actions I have announced today are a first step towards putting survivors first, eradicating the backlog of modern slavery cases to give victims the clarity and peace of mind they need to move on with their lives.”

According to the International Labour Organisation, an estimated fifty million people were living in modern slavery as of 2021, based on the latest Global Estimates of Modern Slavery. Of this number, 28 million individuals were in forced labour, while 22 million were trapped in forced marriage.

The number of people in modern slavery has risen significantly in the last 10 years. 10 million more people were in modern slavery in 2021 compared to 2016 global estimates. Women and children remain disproportionately vulnerable.

Modern slavery occurs in almost every country in the world and cuts across ethnic, cultural, and religious lines. More than half (52 percent) of all forced labour and a quarter of all forced marriages can be found in upper-middle-income or high-income countries.