Matthew Falder

Matthew Alexander Falder (born 24 October 1988) is a convicted English serial sex offender and blackmailer who coerced his victims online into sending him degrading images of themselves or into committing crimes against a third person such as rape or assault. He managed this by making threats to the victim by saying he would send their family or friends degrading information or revealing pictures of them (which he usually obtained earlier by obtaining a false trust with the victim) if they did not comply with his commands. Falder hid behind anonymous accounts on the web and then re-posted the images to gain a higher status on the dark web. Investigators said that he "revelled" in getting images to share on hurtcore websites. The National Crime Agency (NCA), described him as "one of the most prolific and depraved offenders they had ever encountered." Falder pleaded guilty to 137 charges from 46 complainants, making him one of the UK's most prolific convicted sex offenders. In February 2018 he was jailed for 32 years and ordered to serve a further six years on extended licence. The Court of Appeal later reduced the term of imprisonment to 25 years, with an extended licence of 8 years. Falder grew up in an upper middle class family in Knutsford, Cheshire. He attended Kings School in Macclesfield, Cheshire, where it was reported that he had "excelled". After school he attended Clare College of the University of Cambridge, specialising in seismic oceanography and earning masters and doctoral degrees. At the time of his arrest, he was working as a post-doctoral researcher and lecturer in geophysics at the University of Birmingham. Falder was well-liked in his peer group, and was described as being extroverted, funny and larger than life. Falder's offences date back as far as 2007, where he engaged in voyeurism by secretly filming his university housemates in their shared bathroom. He would later inform a housemate about his offending, which she laughed off at the time. Falders' online offending was detected as early as 2009.