'TEEN GIRLS BLACKMAILED BY PERVERT NET HACKER' Ulster-born IT expert demanded sick photos.

Byline: BY MIRROR REPORTER

A NORTHERN Ireland computer technician is facing pervert charges in the US which could see him jailed for decades.

Patrick Connolly is accused of blackmailing teenage girls into sending him pornographic pictures of themselves.

It is alleged he hacked into their computers and coerced many of them into sending him the revealing material.

Authorities revealed Connolly, who worked as a contractor at an American military base in Iraq, is so far facing a single charge of computer hacking following his arrest on Friday in Atlanta.

But it is believed the 36-year-old actually hacked into the computers of more than 4,000 girls over a five-year period.

A US Attorney's Office spokesman said: "Right now he is facing some very serious charges."

Connolly, who had an initial court appearance in Atlanta on Monday, was expected to be moved in the next few days to Orlando, Florida, where he will have a detention hearing in federal court.

Authorities have 30 days to obtain an indictment and more charges could be filed.

Six of the seven teenage girls named as victims in the criminal complaint lived in Florida but authorities said he contacted others around the world beginning in 2005.

Authorities said his victims first got persistent instant messages from an unfamiliar address.

Officials said Connolly was known by screen names such as "Casperlovesya" and "Cucumbersn".

And when the girls asked who the sender was they would get the response: "I'm your computer hacker." A request to send revealing photos would soon follow.

If the girls refused, Connolly would threaten to post personal information online about them he gathered from infiltrating their computers. As a result, many of the girls complied.

Connolly embedded programmes into the computers which gave him remote control and allowed him to look at photos and read files belonging to his victims.

Authorities allege at various times Connolly threatened to hurt one teenage girl's sister and deleted permanent files on the computer of a second teenage girl for refusing to send suggestive images.

The criminal complaint revealed Connolly threatened to send explicit webcam images made by a third teen to her grandmother if she didn't take more photos of herself.

He also showed up at the Orlando workplace of the same girl, who was 16 at the time, wanting to take her to the Universal Studios theme park. She refused.

FBI agents were helped in their investigation by a former accomplice who told authorities he "shared victims" with Connolly.

Ivory Dickerson pleaded guilty in 2007 to manufacturing and possessing child pornography.

Authorities said he had 4,000 victims on his computer but despite Dickerson's cooperation he was sentenced to 110 years.

4,000

THE NUMBER OF GIRLS' COMPUTERS IT IS BELIEVED CONNOLLY HACKED INTO OVER A FIVE-YEAR PERIOD

CAPTION(S):

CHARGED Patrick Connolly was arrested in US