Australian croc expert pleads guilty to bestiality, dog torture, possessing child abuse material
An Australian academic and crocodile expert subjected dogs to torture and rape before finally killing them over a period of years, while also recording many of his sadistic acts on camera.
Adam Robert Corden Britton, 52, pleaded guilty in the Northern Territories Supreme Court on Monday to 60 charges related to bestiality, and possessing, accessing and transmitting child abuse material, News Corp Australia reported.
His identity had previously been hidden as prosecutors believed the depraved nature of his crimes could threaten his right to a fair trial.
The nature of his crimes also led the chief justice to excuse the security officers from the courtroom when the facts were being put on record, reportedly to spare them from hearing the disturbing and graphic details of Britton’s acts.
“The facts contain material describing acts that can only be described as grotesque perversity and cruelty, which are both confronting and distressing and which, in my assessment, have the potential to cause nervous shock,” Justice Michael Grant said in court on Monday.
A prosecutor told the court that Britton had been sexually abusing his dogs since 2014, and described him as a person with a sadistic sexual interest in animals.
He was charged for acts committed between November 2020 and April 2022, during which period he obtained 42 dogs from owners using online marketplace Gumtree.
He reportedly promised the owners, most of whom had reluctantly decided to give up their pets over work or travel commitments, that the dogs would be well cared for.
He also sent them photos of the dogs taken before he began torturing them.
He would subsequently rape the puppies in a “torture room” on his property in McMinns Lagoon, a suburban area in Darwin, a prosecutor said.
The room was a shipping container equipped with filming equipment, which he reportedly used to disseminate videos of his acts online and shared details of his “kill count”.
In one of his online messages sent to a chat group on messaging app Telegram, Britton said: “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.”
He was arrested in April 2022 when a video of him abusing dogs was sent to an animal welfare group in the Northern Territories and the local police.
The police found that he possessed 15 files of child abuse material he had sourced online, including content involving toddlers.
Britton, who holds a PhD in zoology, was a prominent crocodile expert in Darwin and a senior research associate at Charles Darwin University.
He once hosted renowned British biologist and broadcaster David Attenborough, who featured Britton’s pet crocodile Smaug on a BBC documentary.
There are no allegations that Britton has abused his reptiles.
His case has been adjourned until December.
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