A VERY PRIVIL EGED MONSTER
‘Extraordinary’ student from a wealthy family who led a secret life of pure evil
DURING his studies at Cambridge University, Dr Matthew Falder’s tutor considered him ‘one of the finest students’ he had ever taught.
The geophysicist was described as ‘extraordinarily talented’ and his PhD work was lauded as having had an ‘international impact’.
But although friends said he was ‘extremely geeky’, he was far from a recluse who hid behind his computer screen.
Yesterday, Birmingham Crown Court heard he was ‘the life and soul of many a party’ and the judge described him as someone who ‘possessed a dynamic social magnetism’.
Friends said he was an ‘extrovert’ who was ‘loud, humorous, and incredibly kind’ and enjoyed being the centre of attention, often organising social events at university.
He had a long-term girlfriend, whom he met while at Cambridge, and was raised by a ‘loving family’ in Cheshire.
Falder enjoyed a privileged upbringing as the son of a company director, in the affluent town of Knutsford. The eldest of three siblings, he attended £12,000-a-year Kings School in Macclesfield, where he excelled academically.
He left for Cambridge with A-levels in maths, further maths, biology and chemistry, as well as an AS-level in geology.
Falder studied natural sciences at the university’s Clare College and went on to specialise in geology before completing his PhD in ‘seismic oceanography’. He then joined Birmingham University as a postdoctoral researcher.
But as he continued his academic pursuits there, a global task force of more than 100 investigators, led by the National Crime Agency, was desperately trying to unmask him as one of Britain’s worst paedophiles.
Behind the backs of his girlfriend, family, friends and colleagues, Falder had become obsessed with the sickening world of ‘ hurtcore’ pornography and was a ‘VIP member’ of child abuse forums.
It is understood his family are prepared to support him on his release, hoping that under ‘ caring and watchful eyes’ he can resume a normal life. His girlfriend is ‘standing by’ him, according to his barrister.
Falder’s secret life began in 2009 when he started installing hidden cameras in bathrooms – including one at his parents’ home. He went on to develop several online alter egos which he used to obtain naked pictures of youngsters before blackmailing them into sending ever more depraved images.
He bombarded teenagers with horrific requests, including forcing one 15-year-old girl to photograph herself licking a toilet seat at her school and eating dog food while naked on the floor. He also made her pose with racist and homophobic signs.
The judge called the young woman, now a university student, ‘exceedingly brave’ after she faced her abuser in court to read out a victim impact statement, which said: ‘I feel dirty, like I’m used goods. In the back of my mind everyone is trying to trick me, everyone is trying to use me.
‘Part of me believes that that’s all I’m good for … to be abused. I think about what happened every day, and I think I always will.’
A mother who was duped into sending Falder images of her daughter, said in a statement: ‘It is something I have to live with and struggle with the guilt for the rest of my life. I am carrying the weight of what happened on my shoulders daily and it’s been exhausting.’
As his depravity escalated, Falder encouraged an adult to send pictures of a two-year-old boy being
raped and later gave ‘explicit instructions’ about the type of abuse he wanted to see the toddler endure.
Following his arrest at Birmingham University in June last year, when questioned at a police station, he answered ‘ no comment’ to nearly every question.
He admitted using software to hide his online identity, but said he did so because he did not want his girlfriend to see someone else’s breasts on his screen.
When police searched his home, they found thousands of images on a double-encrypted USB stick, some of which showed the worst kinds of abuse against children and babies.
Footage released by the NCA yesterday showed the inside of his pokey flat – the lair from which he orchestrated horrendous abuse. His bedroom was messy, with empty food containers and clothes strewn all across the floor and a toilet roll on his pillow. His computer desk was littered with debris.
The investigation into Falder began in August 2013 when the FBI began looking at an abuse forum called ‘Hurt 2 The Core’.
The site’s homepage boasted that it was dedicated to ‘both the child love and hurtcore aspects of paedophilia’.
A suspect based in the UK, later unmasked as Falder, was found to be using the website under the pseudonym ‘Inthegarden’ to post blackmail pictures of a teenage girl.
In April 2015, the NCA began investigating an online forum identity called ‘666devil’, who was using a picture of a young girl and falsely claiming she was his daughter. He posted his plan to ‘torture’ her during what he dubbed ‘hell week’ and requested ideas from other forum users about what he could do to her.
Police frantically began looking for the suspect, fearing the girl was being abused in real life. The image turned out to be one of a daughter of Falder’s victims.
Investigators soon established that ‘666devil’ also used the online name ‘evilmind’ – and he was later linked to the ‘inthegarden’ username too.
The NCA set up a global taskforce involving US Homeland Security and the FBI, Australian Federal Police and Europol. They also brought in spies from GCHQ to help crack his anonymising techniques.
In March 2017, intelligence linked a person of interest to an address in Birmingham and Falder was finally arrested in June.