[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
We can’t believe this story. It’s just… unimaginable cruelty and depravity… and towards innocent animals!
Adam Britton was known as a crocodile expert, often educating viewers on BBC and Nat Geo programs. He even appeared with famed naturalist Sir David Attenborough! But behind closed doors, this zoologist was anything but a friend to animals.
From 2020 to 2022, Britton acquired dozens of dogs through the Gumtree Australia online marketplace, promising to give them a “good home.” And why wouldn’t people trust him? He was a known zoologist! But he wasn’t trying to give them good homes. He was torturing and killing them. According to court docs, he had a “sadistic sexual interest” in dogs. Over this period he tortured 42 dogs, including sexually — and killed 39 of them. He would then send photos he took prior to the torture and send them to former owners to keep up a “false narrative” that the pups were “thriving in their new environment.”
That’s what can be proven, as authorities say the extent of his crimes is likely far worse…
Related: Kristi Noem Insists She Didn’t Kill A ‘Puppy’… Just A Very Young Dog
He finally got caught because he was also posting videos he made of the torture online. He kept his identity hidden in the videos, posting under the names “Monster” and “Cerberus.” But someone who came across a video in which he tortured seven puppies turned it over to police. A dog leash was identified and led investigators to Britton.
He even sexually abused his own family dogs, Ursa and Bolt — though he didn’t torture them. In an online message in evidence, he explained:
“My own dogs are family and I have limits. I only badly mistreat other dogs… I have no emotional bond to them, they are toys pure and simple. And [there are] plenty more where they came from.”
In another message he told viewers:
“I was sadistic as a child to animals, but I had repressed it. In the last few years I let it out again, and now I can’t stop. I don’t want to. :)”
He was arrested in April 2022. Police found tons of evidence thanks to his horrifying recordings he made in his “torture room”. He also had 15 files containing “the worst category” of child sexual abuse material.
Britton ultimately pleaded guilty to 56 charges of bestiality and animal cruelty last September. And this week he was finally sentenced.
The hearing itself brought more horrors to light. Chief Justice Michael Grant told court officers they could be excused and warned those in the courtroom just hearing about the “grotesque” crimes could cause “nervous shock or some other adverse psychological reactions.” According to the BBC, some did rush out of the room, while others in the gallery cried.
Britton was sentenced to 10 years and five months in prison. He won’t be eligible for parole for six years, and he’s banned for life from purchasing or keeping animals on his property. His wife of many years Erin, a biologist and wildlife ranger who once helped Prince Harry wrangle a croc, is said to have been blindsided by his horrible deeds. She reportedly left him after the arrest and changed her name. Just awful.
For resources on mental health, visit https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/find-help.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence and would like to learn more about resources, consider checking out https://www.rainn.org/resources.
[Image via Adam Britton/Facebook.]
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