The extraordinary celebrity zoologist who admitted to torturing, raping and murdering dozens of dogs was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison in Australia on Thursday in a ruling that animal rights politicians slammed as “pathetically weak”.
Adam Robert Corden-Briton, who worked as a crocodile expert for the BBC and National Geographic, was also found guilty of possessing and transmitting the “worst kind of” child sexual abuse material.
“Your depravity is beyond the capacity of any normal human being,” Northern Territory Chief Justice Michael Grant told Britton as he sentenced him to 10 years and five months in prison.
“Society regards violence and cruelty against animals as an abhorrent crime against helpless and innocent victims. Disgust and condemnation are justified,” the judge said.
Britton, a senior research fellow at Charles Darwin University, began the abuse in 2014 and only stopped after he was arrested in April 2022 after videos of himself engaging in the abusive behaviour were shared online and sent to authorities.
The British-born zoologist, who worked with David Attenborough at the BBC, previously pleaded guilty to 56 charges of torturing and sexually exploiting more than 42 dogs on his countryside property. At least 39 were killed. According to news.com.au.
The sentence includes a lifelong ban on owning or even keeping any mammal-type animals on the premises.
The torture was planned, filmed and would not have been stopped had the defendant not been arrested, the judge said while handing down the sentence for the “grotesque” abuse.
“The suffering of these animals is indescribable,” Grant said.
Animal rights activists demonstrated outside the courtroom carrying signs calling Britton an “animal abuser,” and spectators in the courtroom were sometimes seen sobbing as the harrowing details of the abuse were presented.
As well as pleading guilty, Britton sent the court a letter apologising for the abuse: “No amount of words can express how sorry and ashamed I am or undo what I have done,” he wrote.
Australian Animal Justice Party MP Emma Hirst slammed the punishment as “pathetically weak”.
“I was relieved to hear his sentence includes a prison term … but it’s not enough,” she told news.com.au.
“This is a horrific act of cruelty to animals… This man is a danger to other animals and the local community.”
Authorities have previously said Britton frequently filmed the abuse and shared portions of the videos in online forums to teach and encourage others to do the same. A psychiatrist diagnosed Britton with paraphilia disorder but determined he knew what he was doing was wrong.
