Matthew Falder appeal: Prolific paedophile has sentenced reduced to 25 years

One of the UK’s most prolific paedophiles who blackmailed string of vulnerable victims and admitted 137 offences has had his prison sentence slashed after a successful appeal.

Cambridge graduate Matthew Falder’s 32-year prison sentence was reduced to 25 years by three judges in the Court of Appeal in London on Tuesday.

He previously admitted 137 offences, including voyeurism, encouraging child rape and sharing images showing the abuse of a new-born baby after being caught in June last year.

Falder watched the proceedings via video link from prison.

His barrister Andrew Smith QC told the court during the hearing: "This was grave offending with undoubtedly profound consequences for those who were the victims of this applicant."

But he submitted that "the custodial element of 32 years imposed was manifestly excessive".

The decision to allow the sentence challenge was announced by Lord Justice Holroyde, sitting with Mr Justice King and the Recorder of Winchester Judge Keith Cutler.

He said the court had concluded that the "appropriate" custodial term, taking into account credit for the guilty pleas, and "the principle of totality", was 25 years.

Falder, of Harborne Park Road, Birmingham, committed his offences over nearly 10 years, manipulating victims “behind a computer screen” by duping them into sending nude images.

Armed with their personal details, the 29-year-old then traumatised victims, who were tricked into sending him humiliating images, threatened or attempted to end their own lives.

Sentencing “warped and sadistic” Falder in February for “a tale of ever-increasing depravity”, Judge Philip Parker QC said: “As for your equally extraordinary sexual offending – no one who knew you, above ground, had an inkling of what you were doing below the surface.”

Branding him an “internet highwayman” who targeted 46 victims, he added: “You wanted to assume total control over your victims. Your behaviour was cunning, persistent, manipulative and cruel.”

Of the victims, he said: "The damage is ongoing. For these individuals it will never end, knowing the abuse caused by you still exists in other unknown persons' computers."

The judge also concluded that Falder was a dangerous offender and gave him a six-year extended licence period.

The operation to catch Falder, who used specialist software to hide his online accounts, was aided by GCHQ, the US Homeland Security Department and law enforcement bodies in Israel and Australia.

After his arrest in June 2017, the former lecturer in geophysics at the University of Birmingham quipped to officers that the list of then suspected offences sounded "like the rap sheet from hell".

Birmingham Crown Court heard that Falder coerced male and female victims into producing "increasingly severe self-generated indecent images of themselves, the focus of these images being to humiliate and degrade".

Additional reporting by Press Association.