WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT
A disgraced crocodile expert who filmed himself brutally raping and torturing dozens of pet dogs became emotional when his psychiatric condition was mentioned in court on Thursday, prompting a security guard to hand him a box of tissues.
Adam Britton, 53, confessed in Darwin’s Supreme Court last year to 63 charges relating to animal abuse, bestiality, and for the possession of child exploitation material.
According to court documents, the once-respected academic sourced about 42 dogs on Gumtree over a two-year period for the sole purpose of torturing the animals to death on camera.
Britton would arrange to take dogs from families who were forced to give their pets up due to work or health issues, and once described watching children cry as he took their beloved pets away.
He appeared in court for his sentencing on Thursday morning in a beige shirt, as local pet owners and a member of his ex-wife’s family watched on from the public gallery.
Outside the court, one local held a sign that read: ‘Death penalty for Adam Britton’. Another sign read ‘Rapist, torturer, murderer.’
The court heard on Britton was affected by ‘paraphilia’, defined as recurrent and intense sexual fantasies, urges, or behaviors that are distressing or disabling and involve inanimate objects, children or nonconsenting adults.
He had 30 sessions with a psychologist and has expressed remorse for his actions.
When his condition was mentioned, he sniffled and was handed a box of tissues. Britton then dabbed a tear from under his glasses.
The matter was adjourned pending a psychiatric report and will return to court on August 8.
Britton’s 2.5-acre estate at McMinns Lagoon, south-east of Darwin, is up for sale and being spruiked as an architecturally-designed family home with a resort-style swimming pool.
‘Tranquillity in the bush,’ the online listing read.
Last week, a local spray-painted the words ‘dog killer’ on the road outside the property.
Britton was arrested in April 2022 after an anonymous internet user noticed a female dog in one of his online videos was wearing an orange City of Darwin leash with the slogan, ‘great pets start with you’.
Using the clue, they were able to track who had adopted the dog.
Prosecutors previously told the court he had a Telegram account which was used to engage with ‘like-minded people’, and another which was used to disseminate images and recordings of the abuse.
‘Using these applications, the offender discussed his ‘kill count’,’ the prosecutor told the court.
His account had 114 threads where he described how he acquired the pets and how he abused them.
Britton sourced other dogs from Gumtree from unsuspecting owners in the Darwin region.
The court previously heard he built rapport with the owners and negotiated taking custody of their pets, many of whom reluctantly gave their pets away due to travel or work commitments.
In one scenario, Britton sent a message to the owners of a large brown dog to reassure them the animal was ‘settling in well’.
The prosecutor told the court that dog Wolfe had already been ‘sexually exploited, tortured and killed’.
Following his arrest in 2022, police seized 44 items including computers, mobile telephones, cameras, external hard drives, tools and weapons during a raid of his home.
They also found 15 files of child abuse material on his laptop.