A paedophile who acted as a 'global moderator' on dark web forums dedicated to sharing child sexual abuse material has been jailed for six years. Matthew Slate, 36, admitted running the illegal sites from his flat in north London.
At Wood Green Crown Court on Thursday, Slate pleaded guilty to 11 charges, including distributing more than 2,000 indecent images of children, some of which were Category A, the most serious kind. He also amassed around 57,000 illegal images, including over 10,000 in the highest category of abuse.
The court heard that between April 2024 and February 2025, Slate was a 'global moderator' under the username Loudechoes for a dark web site called Olympus, which was set up exclusively to share child sexual abuse material. He also acted as a 're-up doctor' on another site called Neverland between July 2023 and June 2024.
Slate pleaded not guilty to two counts of participating in activities of an organised crime group and one count of facilitating the sexual exploitation of children. Prosecutor Corinne Bramwell said it was not in the 'public interest' to proceed with those charges, and they were ordered to lie on file.
Adrian Langdale KC, representing Slate, applied for the defendant to be remanded in custody due to threats following media coverage. Her Honour Judge Kaul KC granted the application. Slate, who lives near Alexandra Park, will be sentenced on May 8.
