A south-east London man who helped lead an international online network dedicated to the torture and killing of monkeys has been jailed for more than three years.
Bartosz Poklek, 30, from Bexley, played a leading role in a global community of so-called “zoo sadists” who commissioned, shared and sold videos depicting extreme animal cruelty, Woolwich Crown Court heard.
Role in the network
Prosecutors said Poklek ran online chat groups, distributed thousands of images and videos, and wrote instructions detailing how monkeys should be abused and killed. Some of the footage was sold for up to $500 (£370), with Poklek also directing the production and distribution of “abuse on demand” content.
The court heard the network's activities involved sustained and organised cruelty towards monkeys, including animals being dressed as babies before being attacked, raising concerns among investigators that they were being used as proxies for child victims in sadistic abuse material.
Sentencing and judge's remarks
On Friday, Poklek was sentenced by Judge Christopher Grout to three years and three months in prison. The judge laid out details of the “despicable” online community, telling the court: “It is no exaggeration to say that as a lawyer or as a judge I have never encountered such a horrific case of animal abuse in my life.
“The facts of the offending are truly appalling, likely to cause distress to anyone listening to or reading about them. There is a vile underground community who have a hatred of monkeys, particularly baby monkeys, and take pleasure in seeing such monkeys being tortured and killed.”
The judge said Poklek will be set free after serving around a third of his prison sentence, and he also put pressure on Parliament to consider toughening the penalties for animal abuse which currently have a five-year maximum. “If ever there was a case that demonstrates that the statutory maximum for animal cruelty is too low, this is it”, he said.
Investigation and guilty pleas
The court heard the abuse is taking place in south-east Asia, with macaque monkeys subjected to prolonged torture on camera for viewers online around the world. The judge said “zoo sadists” are recruited to the network after showing an interest in animal abuse material posted on YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok, before being invited to more secure platforms like Discord and Telegram.
He said some of the users paid to “adopt” a monkey so they could direct how the torture took place, and those involved in the network could send in suggestions for the sadistic abuse. Prosecutor Alex Kettle-Williams told the court Poklek styled himself as “BP” online, he ran one chat group titled “BP empire”, and he was “a controlling figure in what is known as the ‘monkey hate community’”.
Ms Kettle-Williams said police uncovered evidence that Poklek had made a request for the killing of a stump-tailed monkey, drafted scripts of how the videos would be made, and made repeated requests for death by hammer. She said: “There are requests and conversations about how the death should be carried out after significant torture.”
The prosecutor said police had found thousands of videos while investigating Poklek, and as examples of the abuse she pointed the judge to a 39-minute video of a baby monkey being tortured by being plied with alcohol, set on fire, and bound with zip ties. In a second video lasting almost half an hour, another baby monkey was mutilated with scissors while clearly still alive.
Poklek was captured after he tried to get hold of court documents from a monkey torture criminal case in the US. After an investigation involving British police from the National Wildlife Crime Unit, the Metropolitan Police, West Mercia Police, and officials from the US Homeland Security Investigations and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Poklek admitted running a “large-scale monkey torture ring” between June 2023 and September 2025.
He also pleaded guilty to publishing obscene videos for gain, as well as possession of indecent images of children and possession of ketamine. Ms Kettle-Williams said Poklek’s possession of child abuse images and videos had been mirrored in the cases brought against others involved in monkey torture around the world.
She said police had gathered evidence that monkeys are sometimes dressed in bonnets and nappies, and fed with a babies’ milk bottle, and there is a concern that monkeys are being seen as “proxy infants” by users interested in violent child abuse.
Alexia Nicol, representing Poklek, told the court he “finds it difficult to explain how he became involved in this”. She said he was seeking “kudos” as an organiser of the network, rather than money, and added: “He is someone who was in isolation, sitting on the internet, using drugs, and in effect slipped further into a world where the boundaries became less and less clear.”
Adeolu Odusote, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Bartosz Poklek was a key cog in a vile trade that oversaw and encouraged the sickening torture of monkeys. Treating vulnerable animals in this way is a horrifying practice that must be rooted out wherever it’s found. We’re grateful for the extensive efforts of both our domestic and international partners in helping us build the strongest possible prosecution against him. This resulted in Poklek pleading guilty to the crimes for which he has now been sentenced.”
