A grandmother appeared in court today to admit involvement in a global monkey torture network which saw animals sadistically beaten, burned and even doused in acid.
Adriana Orme, 55, admitted publishing an obscene article by uploading one image and 26 video recordings of monkey torture to online chat rooms over a two-month period in 2022.
The Dutch woman also admitted intentionally encouraging or assisting the commission of unnecessary suffering of a protected animal, by making a £10 payment via PayPal in April that year.
During a brief hearing at Worcester Crown Court, Judge James Burbidge KC heard that the grandmother-of-two had pleaded guilty on the basis that when she started her offending she was trying to ‘out’ others involved in the torture, a position the judge said ‘perplexes me’.
A statement from Orme was also read to the court in which she said she believed her ‘physical and mental health played a part in my offending.’
Adriana Orme (pictured), 55, admitted publishing an obscene article by uploading one image and 26 video recordings of monkey torture to online chat rooms over a two-month period in 2022
A statement from Orme was also read to the court in which she said she believed her ‘physical and mental health played a part in my offending’
A year-long BBC investigation into the torture network revealed chain of participants around the globe who would ‘commission’ people living in Thailand or Indonesia to film monkeys being tortured to later be shared online.
The 55-year-old is alleged to have published an obscene article by uploading one image and 26 videos of monkey torture between April 14 and June 16, 2022, and to have encouraged or assisted the commission of unnecessary suffering by making a £10 payment to a PayPal account on April 26, 2022.
At an earlier hearing in May, co-defendant Holly LeGresley, 37, admitted being part of the same monkey torture ring where sickos would pay for the animals to be killed for kicks.
LeGresley had gone by the name of ‘The Immolator’ online and was said to be a moderator in one of the most prolific groups which would see monkeys sadistically beaten, burned and even doused in acid. The gore obsessed woman – who lives with her mother and grandmother – previously described Hannibal Lecter, a serial killer who eats his victims, and Pennywise, the clown from IT who preys on children, as her ‘horror icons’.
But other posts on social media show her cradling and cuddling cockatiels or holding a tarantula. In one post, LeGresley portrayed herself as an animal-lover and even a campaigner against animal abuse.
A year-long BBC investigation into the torture network revealed chain of participants around the globe who would ‘commission’ people living in Thailand or Indonesia to film monkeys being tortured to later be shared online
At an earlier hearing in May, co-defendant Holly LeGresley (pictured), 37, admitted being part of the same monkey torture ring where sickos would pay for the animals to be killed for kicks
She is also now awaiting sentence after admitting she uploaded 22 images and 132 videos of monkeys being tortured to online chat groups. LeGresley also admitted paying £17.24 via PayPal to a contact in order to encourage or assist the commission of acts causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.
The offences admitted by each woman carry a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment.
At an earlier hearing at Worcester Magistrates Court, prosecutor Angla(corr) said West Mercia Police were informed about Orme and LeGresley’s alleged roles in the torture network by the National Wildlife Crime Unit and said LeGresley and Orme were identified as having been part of online chat groups. Ms Hallan said the case fell into a category of ‘sadism and high harm’. The variety of monkeys involved in the abuse has not been outlined in court, but the torture is believed to involve baby long-tailed monkeys.
The court heard that whilst neither woman was said to have carried out acts of monkey torture themselves, ‘communications suggest a desire to do so and they have expressed a hatred of pregnant women and babies.’
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Ms Hallan added: ‘In this case the monkeys have very childlike appearances.’
The global torture ring started on YouTube, before moving to private groups on Telegram, the BBC World Service investigation found.
BBC journalists went undercover in one of the main Telegram torture groups, where hundreds of people got together to plan torture ideas and commission people in Indonesia and other nations in Asia to put them into practice.
The BBC located the torturers in Indonesia, and the buyers and distributors in the US.
They also managed to access an international law enforcement effort to have them punished for their actions, which led to at least 20 people – including Orme and LeGresley – being placed under investigation around the world.
In a secretly filmed video, one participant called Ajis Rasjana tells an undercover reporter that when he is ‘very, very angry’ he hits the monkeys against the wall. He was sentenced to eight months – the maximum sentence available for torturing an animal in Indonesia.
One key participant was dubbed ‘The Torture King’ in the videos. Mike McCartney, allegedly a key video distributor in the US, described to the BBC journalists the moment he joined his first Telegram monkey torture group.
During a brief hearing at Worcester Crown Court (pictured), Judge James Burbidge KC heard that the grandmother-of-two had pleaded guilty on the basis that when she started her offending she was trying to ‘out’ others involved in the torture, a position the judge said ‘perplexes me’
McCartney, who the BBC last year alleged used to be a motorcycle gang member and served prison time before he joined the monkey torture network, remarked: ‘They had a poll set up. Do you want a hammer involved? Do you want pliers involved? Do you want a screwdriver?’
He said the video that followed was ‘the most grotesque thing I have ever seen’.
McCartney came to run a number of Telegram groups that saw torture enthusiasts distributing videos.
Granting Orme bail this afternoon, Judge Burbidge warned the softly-spoken defendant to prepare herself for prison when she returns to the court to be sentenced – possibly alongside LeGresley, from Kidderminster, Worcestershire – in October.
The judge told Orme, of Upton-upon-Seven, Worcestershire: ‘The more I read into this case the more disquieting it becomes I’m afraid, and the more outrageous your behaviour appears to be.’
The judge added that psychiatric reports would be prepared into both defendants who ‘apparently…have mental health conditions.’
