Two women from Worcestershire have been sentenced to prison for their involvement in a global monkey torture network, which a judge described as “depraved, sickening and wicked”. Holly LeGresley, 37, and Adriana Orme, 56, were jailed for two years and 15 months respectively at Worcester Crown Court on Wednesday.
LeGresley admitted uploading 22 images and 132 videos of monkeys being tortured, as well as making a payment to a PayPal account to encourage cruelty. Orme pleaded guilty to publishing an obscene article by uploading one image and 26 videos of monkey torture, and to encouraging or assisting unnecessary suffering by making a £10 payment to a PayPal account.
Judge James Burbidge KC said he was left “almost in disbelief” by the evidence. “Quite what led you two women of good character and, I am satisfied, some intelligence, to engage in such a forum is beyond comprehension by any right-thinking member of society,” he said.
The court heard the pair joined online chat groups that encouraged torture of monkeys by offenders based in Indonesia, who were sent money by group members to carry out their torture ideas. LeGresley, from Kidderminster, used the username The Immolator in groups on Telegram that created, crowdfunded and commissioned videos of animals being beaten, doused in acid and put in blenders. She was an admin of a group run by Michael Macartney from Virginia, US, who called himself the Torture King, and once ran a poll for group members to vote on the method of torture for an upcoming video. Macartney was recently sentenced to three years and four months in prison for conspiracy to create and distribute animal crushing videos.
At least 20 people globally were placed under investigation following a year-long investigation by the BBC Eye team. Sarah Kite, spokesperson for Action for Primates, which assisted UK police, said: “Anyone involved in this type of behaviour must be held to account, and others need to know that such extreme cruelty and depravity will never be tolerated. We hope these sentences will deter others from becoming involved in these perverted and sadistic activities.”
