British crocodile expert Adam Britton pleads guilty to raping puppies

Brit crocodile expert Adam Britton, 51, admits raping and torturing dozens of dogs – including his own pets Ursa and Bolt – at his animal shelter in Australia as judge condemns ‘grotesque cruelty’

• Adam Britton, 51, tortured and sexually exploited more than 42 dogs until arrest

A British crocodile expert has pleaded guilty to raping puppies and torturing more than 40 dogs – including his own pets Ursa and Bolt – at his Australian animal shelter after luring pet owners to give him custody of their beloved canines.

Adam Britton, 51, began his offending in 2014 and tortured and sexually exploited more than 42 dogs he had called ‘f*** toys’ until his arrest in April 2022. 

Britton, an academic at Charles Darwin University in northern Australia who once hosted legendary broadcaster David Attenborough at his home, tortured 39 of those dogs to death in a horrific case of animal cruelty that has shocked the nation.

The married zoologist had sexually abused his own Swiss-Sheppard pets, Ursa and Bolt, for almost a decade before he eventually expanded to Gumtree Australia to source more dogs to torture and kill at his sprawling rural estate on the northern tip of Australia.

He would even film himself torturing the defenceless animals until most of them died before posting the sick material online, where he also accessed child abuse material, an Australian court heard.

Britton, a leading zoologist who has worked with the BBC and National Geographic on productions, stood calmly as he pleaded guilty to 56 counts of animal cruelty at the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory yesterday.

He also pleaded guilty to four counts of accessing and transmitting child abuse material. Britton will be sentenced at a later date.

Britton, an academic at Charles Darwin University in Australia who once hosted legendary broadcaster David Attenborough , tortured 39 of those dogs to death in a horrific case of animal cruelty that has shocked the nation. Pictured: Britton presenting on BBC programme Natural World 

In 2016, Britton uploaded a photo of one of his dogs, Bolt, as a puppy (pictured). The court heard how Britton sexually abused and tortured the dog

The court heard Britton started abusing his dogs, Ursa and Bolt (pictured as an adult), in 2014

Adam Britton (centre) with his wife Erin (left) and David Attenborough (right) during filming for a BBC documentary Cold Blood

The details of Britton’s crimes are so horrific and ‘grotesque’ that Chief Justice Michael Grant urged the public and security staff to leave the courtroom before the prosecutors outlined the facts of the case in a rare move. Much of the details surrounding Britton’s offending are also too gruesome to be published.

Prosecutors told the court how Britton has a ‘sadistic sexual interest’ in animals and in particular dogs since at least 2014. 

He not only tortured and sexually abused his own pets, but also dogs from pet owners he had lured into his trap through the online marketplace platform Gumtree Australia.

Britton would use Gumtree Australia to target pet owners across the Darwin region who were often reluctantly giving their pets away due to work or travel commitments, the court heard. 

He would build a ‘rapport’ with the unsuspecting dog owners in order to negotiate taking custody of their dogs, prosecutor Marty Aust said.  

In one scenario, Britton sent a message to the owners of a large brown dog to reassure them the animal was ‘settling in well’.  

‘Wolfe was relaxed and eating well and enjoying her new home,’ the message wrote.

But unbeknownst to the previous owners the dog had already been ‘sexually exploited, tortured and killed,’ Mr Aust said.

Adam Britton, 51, began his offending in 2014 and tortured and sexually exploited more than 42 dogs until his arrest in April 2022

Britton, a leading zoologist who has worked with the BBC and National Geographic on productions, stood calmly as he pleaded guilty to 56 counts of animal cruelty at the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory yesterday

Prosecutors told the court how Britton has a ‘sadistic sexual interest’ in animals and in particular dogs since at least 2014

Britton would share videos and images of himself sexually exploiting the dogs on online forums under pseudonyms.

A video was eventually sent to the Northern Territory Animal Welfare Branch and passed on to police who arrested Britton in April 2022.

He has been remanded in custody since then.

Britton was a prominent NT crocodile expert and a senior researcher at Charles Darwin University. None of his offending is alleged to have been against the reptiles. 

He is set to return to court on December 13 for sentencing submissions.

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