The sicko celebrity zoologist who admitted to torturing, raping and killing dozens of dogs was sentenced on Thursday in Australia to more than 10 years in prison — which an animal rights politician slammed as “pathetically weak.”
Adam Robert Corden Britton, who worked as a crocodile expert for the BBC and National Geographic, was also sentenced for possessing and transmitting “the worst category” of child sexual abuse material.
“Your depravity falls outside any ordinary human conception,” Northern Territories Chief Justice Michael Grant told Britton as he sentenced him to 10 years and five months behind bars.
Zoologist Adam Britton pleaded guilty to bestiality, animal abuse and possessing child exploitation material charges. Adam Britton / Facebook“Society views violence and cruelty to animals as an abhorrent crime towards a powerless and innocent victim. There is legitimate disgust and condemnation,” the judge said.
Britton, a senior research associate at Charles Darwin University, began his abuse in 2014 — and only stopped when he was arrested in April 2022 after authorities were sent a video he had shared online of himself committing the abuse.
The British-born zoologist — who worked with David Attenborough on the BBC — had earlier pleaded guilty to 56 charges related to the torture and sexual exploitation of more than 42 dogs on his rural property. At least 39 were killed, according to news.com.au.
His sentence includes a ban from owning — or even having on his property — mammal-type animals for the rest of his life.
The torture sessions were planned and filmed and would not have stopped if he had not been arrested, the judge said during sentencing for the “grotesque” abuse.
“The suffering of these animals was indescribable,” Grant said.
Britton held a Ph.D. in zoology and held the position of senior research associate at Charles Darwin University. Adam Britton / FacebookAnimal advocates demonstrated outside the court, holding signs calling Britton a “zoosadist,” while members of the gallery at times sobbed over the excruciatingly graphic details of the abuse.
As well as pleading guilty, Britton wrote a letter to the court apologizing for the abuse. “No amount of words can convey how sorry and ashamed I am, nor undo what I did,” he wrote.
Emma Hurst, a member of parliament for Australia’s Animal Justice Party, ripped the punishment as “pathetically weak.”
The court heard he referred to the animals as “f–k toys,” raped puppies and operated a nightmarish “torture room” on his property. Adam Britton / Facebook“I am relieved to hear his sentence includes time behind bars … but it is not long enough,” she told news.com.au.
“These were horrific acts of animal cruelty … This man is a danger to other animals and the community.”
Britton extensively filmed his abuse and shared some of the videos on online forums to teach and encourage others to commit similar acts, officials previously said. While psychiatrists found Britton had a paraphilic disorder, they determined he knew his actions were wrong.
