In Australia, a well-known British crocodile expert was sentenced to ten years and five months in prison after confessing to sexually abusing numerous dogs, a revelation that shocked the country.
Adam Britton, a renowned zoologist who has contributed to BBC and National Geographic productions, entered a guilty plea to 56 counts of animal cruelty and bestiality.
In addition, he admitted to having accessed materials about child abuse four times.
The 53-year-old allegedly recorded himself torturing the animals until nearly all of them died, then posted the videos online using fictitious identities, according to the Northern Territory (NT) Supreme Court.
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It took years for his abuse to be discovered, but one of his videos contained a hint. A search of Britton’s rural Darwin property in April 2022 turned up evidence of child abuse on his laptop, leading to his arrest.
Chief Justice Michael Grant cautioned the courtroom that numerous details of Britton’s crimes could cause “nervous shock” because they are too graphic to be published and are so “grotesque.”
There were people in the public who hurried outside as the case details were read aloud. Mouthing insults at Britton, other gallery spectators sobbed. Sometimes he would just hang his head and reach for tissues.
Judge Grant described the perpetrators as “devious” and stated that it was “sickeningly evident” that Britton took “unalloyed pleasure” in torturing the animals.
“[Your] depravity falls entirely outside any ordinary human conception,” he stated.
In September 2028, after serving his entire sentence, Britton might be eligible for parole. It is also forbidden for him to own any dogs or other mammals going forward in his lifetime.
Mr Britton’s lawyer argued his offending was driven by a rare disorder causing intense, atypical sexual interests.
In court on Thursday, they read out a letter from Britton, who apologised for his “demeaning crimes”.
“I deeply regret the pain and trauma that I caused to innocent animals and consequently to my family, friends and members of the community,” it said.
Adding that his family was not aware or involved in any way, he wrote: “I will seek long term treatment and… I will find a path towards redemption.”
Locals have told media he seemed like a quiet but passionate defender of animals.
But he was harbouring a “sadistic sexual interest” in them, court documents say. Exchanges with “like-minded” people in secret online chatrooms detail how Britton began molesting horses at the age of 13.
“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 wrote in one message tendered to the court.
For at least the past decade, Britton had exploited his own pets and manipulated other dog owners into giving him theirs.
“My own dogs are family and I have limits,” he explained in a Telegram chat entered into evidence.
“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.”
He tortured at least 42 dogs, killing 39 of them, according to court documents seen by the BBC. The files only detail his crimes over the 18 months before his arrest, but still fill more than 90 pages.
