A Cambridge University scientist led a double life blackmailing victims including children into sending him severe abuse images of themselves and sharing them on the dark web.

Dr Matthew Falder, 28, who was arrested at Birmingham University where he worked, posed as a female artist on sites such as Gumtree to trick his victims into sending him naked or partially-clothed images of themselves.

Falder, whose crimes make him one of of Britain's most prolific sex offenders, would then blackmail them into sending increasingly degrading images of themselves, targeting more than 50 victims and leaving some so devastated they attempted suicide.

He then distributed the images using the names "666devil" and "evilmind", including some which showed babies and children being tortured, on the dark web, and discussed them at length to humiliate and degrade the people who were the subject of the pictures.

The investigation, led by the National Crime Agency, is believed to be the first prosecution in the UK of "hurt core" where offenders use hidden web forums dedicated to the discussion of and video sharing of rape, murder, sadism, torture, paedophilia, blackmail, humiliation and degradation.

His father Stephen Falder told Sky News: "This has turned our lives upside down. It came as a complete shock and the family is totally devastated."