‘So evil’: Married to a monster

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

To the world, he appeared to be a good man; a devoted husband and a celebrated zoologist working to protect animals.

Darwin-based crocodile expert Doctor Adam Britton, 53, made nature documentaries, even working alongside famous names such as Sir David Attenborough. He portrayed himself as a wildlife warrior.

Britton ran a wildlife consulting business with then-wife Erin, and rubbed shoulders with Prince Harry as his crocodiles starred in many documentaries.

“I live in Darwin in northern Australia, and I have got five crocodiles and two dogs and my wife, and they run a business with me and, yeah, it’s a lot of fun,” Britton said of his life back then.

However, he was hiding a terrible secret; some truly grotesque crimes.

His glowing public persona all came undone when Britton was arrested in April 2022 and charged with acts of animal cruelty following an international police investigation. Last month he was sentenced to 10 years and five months jail for raping and torturing 42 dogs, killing at least 39 of them. He’s also banned from having anything to do with dogs for the rest of his life.

Britton pleaded guilty to 37 charges, including animal cruelty causing serious harm or death, 10 counts of raping or attempting to rape a dog, four counts of possessing or transmitting child abuse material, animal cruelty, and using a carriage service in an offensive way.

Britton’s ex wife Erin has now decided to speak out for the first time about her former husband, telling 60 Minutes’ Tara Brown in Sunday evening’s episode that she was coming to grips with the reality that she was married to a monster.

“I cannot comprehend still how somebody can be so depraved, so evil, and how he’s just destroyed my entire life,” a shocked Erin said.

Erin had believed she’d met her soulmate in Britton, unaware he was leading a double life.

At the time of his arrest, when police led by Detective Sergeant Mark Cronin raided their Darwin home, Erin was away on a work trip.

“I had no idea why or what the crimes were, [I] had no knowledge at all,” Erin said.

What her lawyer told her the next morning was truly horrifying.

“She told me that there were crimes of animal cruelty and, you know, obviously there was bestiality. And when she told me bestiality my brain was, like, denial, ‘no’. And hearing that information is the most awful thing you could ever hear about your partner. It was so shocking.

“And I felt sick I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t think. I was, my brain was having trouble processing and understanding how such a horrible thing could even exist in the world, and then to find out that this was relating to, to him.”

It emerged that Britton had used Gumtree to source 42 dogs over a period of 18 months, pretending he would care for them.

Instead, Detective Sergeant Mark Cronin said he used various weapons including knives, saws, fishhooks and “pretty much anything you can imagine, and probably things you cannot” to injure and kill the dogs in what was a “unique” and horrendous crime.

Britton also filmed hours of his offences on multiple cameras, and uploaded videos to his fan base. He hid his face and went by user names Monster and Cerberus. A shocked anonymous viewer tipped off animal welfare to what Britton was doing.

Detective Cronin said: “With that email, was a 15-minute video of a, a naked caucasian man in the bush doing indescribable things to dogs”.

One tiny piece of information in the video proved crucial – an adult female dog wearing an orange lead.

“And that lead had ‘Great pets start with you’ written across it. That happens to be the Darwin City Council slogan for pets.”

Dog remains were found in the freezer at Britton’s home, along with trestle tables and camera tripods set up where it’s believed he filmed his crimes.

“So he was mostly likely feeding those to the crocodile,” Erin said of the dog remains.

When asked if he was getting rid of evidence, she responded: “Yes. Of course”.

“How is that possible that somebody can possibly, that is frightening. Just, I still feel sick.

Knowing that somebody was capable of things like that.”

She had been caught off guard as he was “hiding in plain sight”.

Erin explained that while she had no idea he would be capable of such crimes, he was becoming withdrawn around that time: “We were living in separate rooms at that time. We still had a very close bond, partnership, friendship, but it’d been a number of years since we were romantically together.

“So, he was spending a lot of time on his computer. And when I’d talk to him, you know, and he was quite withdrawn, increasingly so.”

She suspects her pets she had during that period who have since passed were victims too.

Britton created streaming channels on the dark web, where he traded hundreds of images and videos of animals and gave advice to his disturbed fans.

“I love to hurt dogs. I live for it. I can’t stop myself hurting dogs,” he was heard saying.

While in another he said: “You have to be smart about where you get them from. Don’t go to a shelter. Private sales only.”

Police also found other sadists after tracking down Britton, including Lucas Vanwoert from Ohio in the US.

Special Agent Jason Guyton said: “I’ve done child exploitation investigations for 15 years, and I’ve seen the worst of society and the worst of what people can do. It was

just something a little bit different with the video files that were created here. Just very

difficult material to look at, and, and to watch.”

Vanwoert was sentenced to eight years in jail and 15 years of supervised release for possession and transportation of child sexual abuse material, transportation of obscene materials and creating an animal crush video.

The hunt continues for other offenders in the community.

Britton pleaded guilty to 63 offences in 2023, including possession and transmission of child exploitation material. However, authorities believe he didn’t physically harm children.

He has been writing letters to Erin from jail, ignoring his crimes and asking for books about dogs.

“He doesn’t have any consciousness of what is right or wrong.”

“I feel like I’ve lost so much of my life and I feel like I’ve been completely duped.”

Erin is determined to fight for animals.

Britton laughed while describing his personality: “Anyone who thinks that I’m crazy, maybe they’re right. But at the end of the day, well, I don’t know.”

Britton told psychologists he recalled having an unusual interest in animals from age six.

He has been diagnosed with several deviant sexual conditions including zoophilia, a sexual attraction to animals, and zoo sadism, where sexual pleasure is derived from cruelty to animals.

Forensic psychiatrist Dr Rajan Darjee said reactions of horror to Britton although understandable, don’t aid in understanding someone.

“No one is, you know, you are sexually attracted to what you’re sexually attracted to, but all of us have a responsibility for dealing with our urges and managing them appropriately.