Birmingham paedophile fitted cameras in public toilets

A prolific paedophile fitted secret cameras in a public toilet for "sexual gratification", a court heard.

Cambridge graduate Dr Matthew Falder, 29, has already admitted 137 offences against 46 victims.

The former Birmingham University geophysics researcher "joked" to acquaintances about the secret cameras.

He placed covert devices in washrooms, fitting cameras at his parents' Manchester house and holiday home in Wales, a sentencing hearing was told.

Details of Falder's crimes continue to emerge at the hearing at Birmingham Crown Court.

He admitted offences ranging from making indecent images of children, possession of a paedophile manual, possession of extreme pornography, 10 counts of voyeurism, more than a dozen charges of blackmail, malicious communication and 23 charges of fraud by representation. It took 30 minutes to read out all the charges against him in court in October last year.

On Thursday, the court heard how Falder, described as "arrogant" by one acquaintance, even once "joked" to her about having installed a secret camera.

He hacked one female victim's Facebook account, posting part-naked images of her, taken from his clandestine recordings.

Ruona Iguyovwe, prosecuting, said: "Mr Falder had been recording people in the bathroom or shower at different locations and on different dates for the purpose of sexual gratification."

He also posed as a depressed female artist on website Gumtree.

The court heard how he duped one mother into speaking about her views on "spanking" children.

Falder told her of his ideas for possible child punishments, saying he would: "put her in a dog collar on a lead, make her walk on all fours, feed her from a dog bowl and make her sleep in a dog basket".

The paedophile hid behind online personas such as "Liz" on Gumtree, and "666devil" or "evilmind" on the dark web, and used the online connection software Tor to cover his tracks.

He was caught after a global NCA-led investigation, involving GCHQ, the US Homeland Security Investigations, and law enforcement in Israel, Slovenia, Australia and New Zealand.

After he was arrested and officers reeled off his offences, Falder replied that they sounded "like the rap-sheet from hell".