Prime Suspect: Hunting The Predators | Preview (Channel 5)

With unprecedented access, this documentary series enters the dark world of the biggest online predators investigated by the National Crime Agency (NCA).

In the first episode, gripping unseen bodycam footage witnesses the moment the National Crime Agency (NCA) investigators arrest respected Cambridge graduate and university lecturer, Matthew Falder. When he is read the horrific list of sexual charges, Falder responds, “It sounds like the rap sheet from hell.”

In custody, Jane Lawrenson, Lead Interviewing Officer for the NCA, finally meets the predator they’ve hunted for four years. Never-seen-before archive of Falder’s interview records how he boasted to his victims that he would never be caught. Devices seized from his bedroom contain nearly 14000 indecent images of children and 1251 videos of children from around the world - making him the most prolific online paedophile the NCA have ever investigated.

The manhunt began four years earlier, when a man on the dark web with the username 666Devil posted a photo of a child, claiming it was his daughter. He asks others online to suggest what abuse they’d like him to inflict on her during a week of hell. With her life at risk, the NCA begin an immediate investigation to identify and protect her.

Senior Investigating Officer, Matt Sutton, heads up the team who are focused on tracking down 666Devil. They uncover that 666Devil pretends to be an artist called Liz and targets hundreds of young victims over the internet, before blackmailing them for sexually degrading videos.

Finally, the investigation team make a breakthrough and identify who the predator is. Matthew Falder is a respected university researcher and lecturer at Birmingham university. Compelling NCA surveillance footage reveals that Falder is carrying out his double life, unaware that the net is closing in.

Following his arrest, Falder pleaded guilty to 137 offences against 46 victims and was sentenced to 32 years in prison. Following an appeal, his sentence was reduced to 25 years.

Prime Suspect: Hunting The Predators begins Wednesday 26th February at 9pm on Channel 5.