Paedophile agrees to US first SURGICAL castration in plea deal - but still faces 40 years

A serial paedophile has agreed to be castrated as part of a shocking plea deal after he was caught trying to sexually assault a seven-year-old girl.

Thomas Allen McCartney, 37, is classified a "Tier Three" offender and is considered one of Louisiana's worst child predators.

McCartney has agreed to be both physically and chemically castrated as part of his plea deal on Tuesday in order to reduce his prison sentence - although he'll still spend 40 years behind bars, according to local station Fox 12.

Louisiana is the first and only state to allow surgical castration to be used as a punishment for sex crimes.

The law only came into force at the beginning of August - and his case is likely to be one of the first times it's been applied by a court.

The southern state has allowed chemical castration as a punishment for certain sex crimes since 2008.

Louisiana judges can offer the procedure in certain extreme cases of sex abuse, with offenders who refuse given an additional three to five years in jail.

The option was presented to the Leesville resident after a mother caught him sexually abusing her daughter in February 2023, reported KPLC-TV.

When the woman discovered him abusing her girl, he used a firearm to escape, before being arrested in Houston, Texas, and then returned to face punishment.

He pleaded guilty on Tuesday in Vernon Parish to attempted first-degree rape of a child under the age of 13.

"This is a horrific crime that never should have happened," Vernon Parish District Attorney Terry Lambright told reporters.

"Thomas McCartney is a predator that needs to be locked away from others in our community."

The serial rapist has previously been convicted of attempted aggravated rape in 2011.

The previous year, he was held on two counts of aggravated rape of a 12-year-old.

In 2006, he was arrested on one count of felony carnal knowledge of another girl.