Adam Britton, a renowned zoologist, has confessed to 60 horrific crimes, including raping, torturing and killing dogs. The 53-year-old now faces a possible prison sentence of up to 249 years in Australia.
Britain’s leading crocodile expert has confessed to bestiality and faced a raft of animal sexual abuse charges in Australia last September.
His case shocked and angered animal rights activists and the public as details of his disturbing actions came to light.
Britton has admitted to an interest in ‘zoo-sadism’ and in numerous online posts submitted to the Northern Territory Supreme Court he has advised other people on how to commit similar abuse.
When Britton recently appeared in court for sentencing, the court was told about the psychiatric condition he suffered from called paraphilia.
Who is Adam Britton?
Adam Robert Corden Britton was born in 1972 and graduated from Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School in 1987. In 1992 he gained a degree in zoology from the University of Leeds.
Britton received his PhD in zoology from the University of Bristol in 1996.
That same year he moved to Australia and met his future wife, Erin, a wildlife ranger and biologist. The couple set up a consultancy specializing in wild crocodiles.
Britton has gained international recognition as a crocodile expert, working with prominent figures such as David Attenborough and contributing to various documentaries and educational programmes for the BBC and National Geographic.
He was a researcher at Charles Darwin University in Darwin, Australia, and appeared on the Discovery Channel program “Animal Face-Off,” further cementing his reputation as a leading expert on crocodiles.
His career was overshadowed by his criminal activities after he pleaded guilty to a series of charges relating to the rape, torture and killing of dogs, which he committed in a shipping container known as the “torture chamber”.
What are the charges against him?
The Australian court heard that Britton previously sought shelter dogs through the online classifieds site Gumtree Australia and offered to give them a new home on his sprawling estate near Darwin.
He allegedly filmed himself torturing the animals and posted the videos on online platforms under the pseudonyms “Monster” and “Cerberus.” He also allegedly accessed child abuse material on these platforms.
His disturbing actions led to the deaths of 39 dogs.
He also pleaded guilty to four counts of accessing and transmitting child abuse material.
“I was talking to someone else about why I enjoy hurting dogs so much,” he wrote in a secret chat group. “I wasn’t sure at first but now I live for it. I can’t stop myself from hurting dogs.”
“As a child I was sadistic towards animals, but I suppressed it. In recent years I have let it go again, and now I can’t stop. I don’t want to.”
He added a smiley.
Australian authorities were alerted to Britton’s activities by an anonymous person. They subsequently launched “Operation Haine”, which resulted in a search warrant being served on Britton’s home in McMinns Lagoon on the outskirts of Darwin. During their investigation, law enforcement discovered disturbing footage that Britton had shot that revealed his animal cruelty.
He was arrested in April 2022.
Britton’s attorney — who requested anonymity due to threats they’ve received for suppressing Britton — recently presented a new report to the court about the zoologist’s “paraphilia.” It’s a psychological term used to describe a condition characterized by intense sexual fantasies, urges, or behaviors involving atypical objects, situations, or people.
What happened at the last hearing?
During Thursday’s hearing, Britton’s lawyer reportedly told the court about his “paraphilia”, causing the hearing to be adjourned.
Before the hearing began, Northern Territory Supreme Court Justice Michael Grant asked his staff and animal rights activists to leave the room because of the horrific nature of Britton’s actions.
“This is a human being who has suffered from a condition since early childhood,” Britton’s attorney said. “It’s not his fault that he had it.”
“This particular condition is extremely taboo in most societies and the court can, and I hope will, accept that this would be a very difficult thing to grow up with and deal with as an adult.”
However, lead prosecutor Marty Aust said Britton took “deep-seated pleasure” in his perverse sexual interest in animals.
“There was considerable planning to the extent that it was a significant production, involving multiple cameras, tripods, various recording equipment, production values and editing,” he told the court.
“When you watch that footage, you see the extreme joy and pleasure that this man had in creating this and performing these acts. His sheer enjoyment goes to the core of it… it’s hard to read, it’s hard to hear, but to see it, it’s something else.”
Mr Aust said Britton, “like any other person with a specific sexual interest”, could “rationally determine whether to act on that interest”.
“He did that and then, with the prodding and encouragement of other like-minded individuals, he offended in a manner that is almost beyond description in its magnitude and depravity,” he said.
Mr Aust said that even if Britton’s condition was treatable, “there is still a constant risk of the condition returning”.
At a hearing earlier this year, Judge Grant questioned whether psychiatric evidence could diminish Britton’s moral responsibility for his actions.
“A serial killer, for example, cannot say, ‘My moral culpability is diminished because I have psychopathy,’” he said in February. “I just don’t see where the evidence is going here.”
British crocodile expert, zoologist Adam Britton @adambritton faces up to 249 years in prison for raping and killing more than 60 dogs.
He was diagnosed with a condition called paraphilia, which is characterized by abnormal sexual desires involving extreme or dangerous activities. INSANE! photo.twitter.com/8VMQRghWFp— Kaveri 🇮🇳 (@ikaveri) July 15, 2024
Response to the charges against Britton
Britton’s sentencing was postponed for a third time after his lawyer submitted a new report to the judge. He is due back in court next month.
Former Northern Territory legislator Ross Bohlin said the delay in sentencing was an “abuse of the legal process”.
“It would be nice to think that today this psychopathic level of abuse has come to an end. Unfortunately, the delay will only prolong the pain,” he said.
At their recent protest outside the courthouse, animal rights activists held signs demanding justice, including calls for the death penalty and “justice for the innocent victims of Adam Britton.”
“He must be punished so that people don’t start thinking that animals can be exploited and abused,” one protester said.
They realised the death penalty “isn’t going to happen,” the protester told the ABC, “but locking him up forever would be my personal choice”.