The geophysicist posed as a woman on sites such as Gumtree to trick dozens of people into sending him explicit images of themselves. He then threatened to expose his victims if they did not send severe and depraved abuse images of themselves, including some that showed babies and children being tortured.

Falder shared many of the photos on sexual abuse forums hidden on the darknet, were he used the monikers “666devil” and “evilmind”.