Fury as dark web sex beast has 7 years cut from sentence
A NOTORIOUS paedophile behind dozens of sadistic crimes had his jail sentence slashed yesterday.
Matthew Falder was locked up for 32 years in February after admitting 137 charges of child sex abuse.
But his term was cut to 25 years by Court of Appeal judges in London. Lord Justice Holroyde said the decision had been influenced by Falder’s guilty plea and ‘the principle of totality’.
He said: ‘He is now approaching his 30th birthday. He has no previous convictions recorded against him. He grew up in what was a clearly loving and caring family bewildered by his offending.’
Cambridge-educated Falder was a talented geophysicist from an Depraved: Matthew Falder affluent Birmingham family and had a master’s degree and a PhD.
He was arrested in June last year following a global investigation involving the National Crime Agency, the FBI and GCHQ. He had been blackmailing child victims into sending pictures of themselves performing depraved acts and then shared these images on abuse forums.
Four of his victims tried to kill themselves and a US Homeland Security agent described him as ‘ absolutely the worst child exploitation and blackmail offender I have ever seen’.
Last night campaigners criticised the Court of Appeal’s decision. Gabrielle Shaw, of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, said: ‘Having this depraved paedophile’s prison sentence cut is a slap in the face to his victims.
‘Much of the cruel and degrading abuse they suffered was documented online by Falder, so will live on forever in the internet and dark web, shared in countless forums by those who enjoy abusing children. Why has this not been recognised by the judges who reduced Falder’s sentence?
‘It is a troubling verdict which may be seen by some survivors as yet more leniency shown towards perpetrators of abuse.’
Aisha Ali-Khan of the feminist group Women’s March London said the decision was outrageous. And Javed Khan of Barnardo’s said: ‘This was a truly appalling case. That this prolific paedophile should not serve out the full jail sentence sends the wrong message to potential offenders.’
During Falder’s sentencing hearing at Birmingham Crown Court, it emerged that he targeted more than 200 people across Britain and blackmailed at least 47 victims.
Hiding behind usernames such as ‘Evilmind’ and ‘666devil’, he shared indecent images of children as young as 13, distributed images of babies being tortured and encouraged the rape of a four-year-old boy.
He posted the pictures on the dark web, a part of the internet which can be accessed only through special servers.
By the time of his arrest he had accrued thousands of sick images that he would ‘trade’ with others who shared his fixation with ‘hurtcore’ porn, a fetish involving severe punishment, humiliation and pain.
Falder’s barrister, Andrew Smith QC, told the Court of Appeal the 32-year sentence was ‘manifestly excessive’ despite ‘grave offending with undoubtedly profound consequences’.
‘Slap in the face for victims’