Birmingham Crown Court (UK) has jailed a dark web pedophile for 32 years in prison. Matthew Falder, a 29-year-old former geophysics lecturer at the University of Birmingham was arrested in June 2017 from the university campus as a result of a huge and extensive four-year operation conducted by law enforcement authorities including British Police, Europol, FBI and UK’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ).
Falder was charged with several counts including voyeurism, blackmailing and rape of vulnerable victims most of whom were teens. Initially, Falder denied all charges but later admitted to 137 charges including raping 46 of his victims.
Worst, warped and sadistic pedophile
According to investigators, Falder is the worst pedophile they have ever come in contact with. The BBC report about Falder reveals that he forced his victims to perform sexually explicit activities including self-harming and licking toilet seats.
Falder tricked his victims into sending nude photos by posing as a female photographer and promising them for a bright future in the modeling world. He conducted these activities on the Internet for eight long years without ever meeting his victims physically.
However, Falder was part of a dark web ring and online community encouraging physical and emotional torture of children and teens. He also forced his victims to drink their own urine and eat their own feces and dog food. He would then record those activities and take snapshots of it and upload it to the dark web and hurtcore websites where according to BBC he was a registered member with a level of “VIP” and “rapist” for the images he uploaded on those websites.
Hurtcore is a subgenre of pornography which consists of sexual assault rape, pedophilia, and other non-consensual activities.
At the time of his arrest, authorities found 484 highly explicit images on his computer while the email address he used was encrypted and provided by a Russian encrypted email service. The strong encryption allowed him to evade arrest for four years.
Scott Crabb of US Homeland Security who participated in the operation defined Falder as the worst offender he has ever seen on the Internet. “He is the worst offender I’ve ever seen on the Internet, the worst child exploitation offender but also the worst blackmailer I’ve ever seen on the Internet.”
“You can describe him as a pure monster, something we’ve never seen before is the way he pursues those victims and has no remorse for what he’s put them through is just pure evil, said Crabb.
According to Matthew Long of UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) Falder is “sadistic, manipulating and a very very unpleasant man.”
“He sought out innocent victims on websites like Gumtree, he even targeted victims on the anorexia website,” revealed Rouna Iguyovwe of Crown Prosecution Service.
Lesson for kids and parents
As the use of the dark web is increasing, cybercriminals and pedophiles are also getting sophisticated and persistent in their activities. It is highly advised that kids and their parents should avoid uploading their personal images and video clicks on websites including social media platforms to stop criminal elements from using them for malicious purposes. Stay safe online.
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