- Adam Britton, 51, tortured and sexually exploited greater than 42 dogs till arrest
A British crocodile skilled has pleaded responsible to raping puppies and torturing greater than 40 dogs at his Australian animal shelter after luring pet house owners on Gumtree to offer him custody of their beloved canines.
Adam Britton, 51, started his offending in 2014 and tortured and sexually exploited greater than 42 dogs he had referred to as ‘f*** toys’ till his arrest in April 2022.
Britton, an instructional at Charles Darwin University in northern Australia who as soon as hosted legendary broadcaster David Attenborough at his home, tortured 39 of these dogs to dying in a horrific case of animal cruelty that has shocked the nation.
The married zoologist had sexually abused his personal Swiss-Sheppard pets, Ursa and Bolt, for almost a decade earlier than he finally expanded to Gumtree to supply extra dogs to torture and kill at his sprawling rural property on the northern tip of Australia.
He would even movie himself torturing the defenceless animals till most of them died earlier than posting the sick materials on-line, the place he additionally accessed little one abuse materials, an Australian court docket heard.
Britton, a number one zoologist who has labored with the BBC and National Geographic on productions, stood calmly as he pleaded responsible to 56 counts of animal cruelty on the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory yesterday.
He additionally pleaded responsible to 4 counts of accessing and transmitting little one abuse materials. Britton will likely be sentenced at a later date.
The particulars of Britton’s crimes are so horrific and ‘grotesque’ that Chief Justice Michael Grant urged the general public and safety employees to go away the courtroom earlier than the prosecutors outlined the details of the case in a uncommon transfer. Much of the main points surrounding Britton’s offending are additionally too ugly to be revealed.
Prosecutors informed the court docket how Britton has a ‘sadistic sexual curiosity’ in animals and particularly dogs since no less than 2014.
He not solely tortured and sexually abused his personal pets, but in addition dogs from pet house owners he had lured into his entice via the net market platform Gumtree.
Britton would use Gumtree to focus on pet house owners throughout the Darwin area who have been typically reluctantly giving their pets away on account of work or journey commitments, the court docket heard.
He would build a ‘rapport’ with the unsuspecting canine house owners as a way to negotiate taking custody of their dogs, prosecutor Marty Aust stated.
In one state of affairs, Britton despatched a message to the house owners of a big brown canine to reassure them the animal was ‘settling in properly’.
‘Wolfe was relaxed and consuming properly and having fun with her new home,’ the message wrote.
But unbeknownst to the earlier house owners the canine had already been ‘sexually exploited, tortured and killed,’ Mr Aust stated.
Britton would share movies and pictures of himself sexually exploiting the dogs on on-line boards beneath pseudonyms.
A video was finally despatched to the Northern Territory Animal Welfare Branch and handed on to police who arrested Britton in April 2022.
He has been remanded in custody since then.
Britton was a distinguished NT crocodile skilled and a senior researcher at Charles Darwin University. None of his offending is alleged to have been towards the reptiles.
He is ready to return to court docket on December 13 for sentencing submissions.
