On 8th August, a British zoologist who collaborated with Sir David Attenborough was sentenced to ten years and five months in prison with a non-parole period of six years after he admitted to raping, torturing and killing dozens of dogs. Adam Britton, who previously submitted documentaries to the BBC and National Geographic, entered a guilty plea to 56 counts of animal cruelty and bestiality as well as four counts of obtaining and disseminating information about child abuse. He admitted to four counts of accessing child abuse material.
The 53-year-old filmed himself abusing the animals until nearly all of them died and he later posted the recordings online using fictitious names, according to the Northern Territory (NT) Supreme Court. Years passed while his abuse stayed unreported until one of his movies revealed a clue. His misdeeds were discovered owing to an anonymous tip to the authorities. An investigation of Britton’s rural Darwin residence in April 2022 turned up evidence of child abuse on his laptop, leading to his arrest. Additionally, he is prohibited from owning animals on his land for the rest of his life. However, the restriction only applies while he remains in the region. Since his arrest, Britton has been held at the Darwin Correctional Center on remand.
Chief Justice Michael Grant cautioned the courtroom that many of the details of Britton’s crimes are too explicit to disclose because they are very “grotesque” and could cause “nervous shock.” A few audience members hurried outside when the case details were read aloud. Others in the gallery sobbed and muttered derogatory remarks at Britton. Occasionally, he was spotted hanging his head and grabbing tissues. Judge Grant described the perpetrator as “devious” and stated that it was “sickeningly evident” that Britton had “unalloyed pleasure” in hurting the animals.
He declared, “Your depravity falls entirely outside any ordinary human conception,” and added, “Although I’m loathe to do so, given the gross depravity and perversity of your actions, it is necessary for sentencing you to provide some generally representative detail and description of the offending conduct.” Britton killed 39 dogs in a shipping container he called his “torture room” on his rural property on the outskirts of Darwin where he shot his inhumane acts and tortured around 42 canines. According to testimony given in court, Britton purchased the dogs online between 2020 and 2022. Reluctantly, owing to job or travel commitments, many owners handed over the pets, believing they had been adopted.
Chief Justice Michael Grant informed Britton that his actions “involved a degree of depravity and reprehensibility which falls entirely outside any ordinary human conception and comprehension” when he announced the sentence of 10 years and five months in Darwin’s court. He highlighted, “The sheer deviance and brutality of your conduct are not satisfactorily encompassed by the bare description that you killed each animal. You used weapons extensively in the course of your activity – including knives, wooden clubs, pliers, bolt cutters, hacksaws and axes.”
“You took photographs of the dogs prior to torturing and killing them, and subsequently sent those photographs to the former owners as part of communicating false narratives that the dogs were thriving in their new environment,” he mentioned. Britton shared footage of his killings on the free messaging app Telegram, where he went by the aliases “Monster” and “Cerberus” and talked about his abhorrent acts. According to Justice Grant, Britton encouraged violence through his conversations with other Telegram users, and it was “manifestly clear” that he got “perverse pleasure and excitement from the suffering of these animals.”
“I have no emotional bond to them, they are toys pure and simple,” Britton told online followers under his alias, about his images of beaten dogs and puppies, “and plenty more where they came from.” According to the police, Britton used to put dogs and puppies in the “torture room” he had rigged up in a shipping container close to his rural Darwin house while his wife was gone on field excursions. He would record himself raping the dogs there and then thrash them to death. Having promised their prior owners he would give them a “good home,” he received the majority of the forty-two animals he mistreated for free through the online selling site Gumtree.
“Your modus operandi was one of devious and careful premeditation and planning, the individuals from whom you procured these dogs thought they were going to a good home and that they would be protected. You took videos of the grotesque harm you were inflicting on these animals, you revisited those videos for your own sexual gratification and you shared them for the gratification of other deviants. The fact that you staged each of these remorseless killings as a production further reinforces the meticulous level of your planning,” the judge pointed out.
He and his wife owned two dogs, Swiss Shepherds named Bolt and Ursa, who he assaulted. ‘Monster’ sent a note that was included in the case which read, ‘I started fence jumping when I was 13 or 14 and molesting horses.’ Judge Grant stated that he feared Britton was “likely to commit a further offence in respect of an animal and that risk will continue to present unless you are subjected to anti-libidinal treatment and effective psychotherapy.”
“I’m less ready to accept that you are genuinely remorseful, that is particularly so having regard to the sheer delight you took in the torture of these animals and the persistence of your conduct. And what appears to be your continuing view that sexual interactions with animals short of sadism isn’t harmful,” the judge noted.
He left a message in an online chat forum that was produced in court which read, Britton “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. :).” A letter from him apologizing for his “demeaning crimes” was read aloud. “I take full responsibility for the demeaning crimes that I perpetrated on dogs. I deeply regret the pain and trauma that I caused to innocent animals and consequently to my family, friends and members of the community that I affected. I now acknowledge that I’ve been fighting a rare paraphilic disorder for much of my life and that shame and fear prevented me from seeking the proper help I needed.”
“No amount of words can convey how sorry and ashamed I am,” he continued, vowing to pursue “long-term treatment” in order to find “redemption.” The letter requested, “Please give my family the time and space they need to heal, they were not aware of or involved in any way.” According to his Facebook page, Britton was born in West Yorkshire, studied zoology at the University of Leeds, and then pursued a PhD in biological science at the University of Bristol. He later resided in Darwin, in Australia’s Northern Territory. He relocated to Australia over two decades ago to work with crocodiles.
Police searched his rural farm and discovered dog heads, sex toys, firearms, laptops and decaying puppy corpses. Widespread indignation over the tragedy has led to calls for tougher laws and background checks for those who work with animals.
