Erin and Adam Britton were married for 15 years. Photo / Channel 9
Erin and Adam Britton were married for 15 years. Photo / Channel 9
Warning: Distressing content
The former wife of a British crocodile expert convicted for raping and killing dozens of dogs has revealed the vile request he made of her from behind bars.
Erin was married to Dr Adam Britton for 15 years before a police raid at their Australian home in April 2022 demolished the facade he built and exposed a sick double life where he “loved to hurt dogs”.
Erin sat down with 60 Minutes Australia, explaining she was initially “in denial” when she learned he had raped, tortured and killed up to 42 dogs – and that was just in the 18 months leading to his arrest.
“I felt sick, I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t think,” said Erin, who divorced Britton in the wake of her discovery.
“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.”
Britton filmed his horrific offending and posted it online, sharing tips with other deviants and boasting: “I love to hurt dogs. I live for it. I can’t stop myself hurting dogs.”
“I cannot comprehend still how somebody can be so depraved, so evil, and how he’s just destroyed my entire life,” Erin said, revealing how she thought the pair still had a close bond despite sleeping in separate bedrooms in recent years.
Erin said she only recently discovered that some of her former pets were also Britton’s victims.
Adam Britton (left) with Sir David Attenborough filming Life In Cold Blood for the BBC in 2008.
Britton hid his identity while he abused and killed dogs and their puppies, using pseudonyms such as “Monster” and “Cerberus” – the three-headed hellhound of Greek mythology.
He shared videos of his crimes in the darkest corners of the internet but one viewer was so disgusted they anonymously reported a clip that contained a clue to his location.
“With that email, was a 15-minute video of a naked caucasian man in the bush doing indescribable things to dogs,” Detective Sergeant Mark Cronin said.
The dog in that video was wearing a leash marked with a Darwin City Council slogan, sending police to the tropical Australian city where the British zoologist had moved as a younger man to study crocodiles.
‘Messed with my head’
Britton, 53, was sentenced to 10 years in jail last month after pleading guilty to 63 charges including animal cruelty, bestiality and possessing child abuse material.
Police said Britton’s offending escalated while Erin was away for work and she said she did not know how she missed signs of his crimes.
“Why did I not know? What did I miss?” she said, telling 60 Minutes she had been “scratching my head, trying to look, trying to play back events of the last few years to see if there’s any detail or anything, but there’s nothing.”
Erin and Adam Britton were married for 15 years. Photo / Channel 9
But despite the scale of his betrayal, Britton still pursued a relationship with his former wife after his arrest, writing her letters from jail while awaiting sentencing – and making a disturbing request.
In the letters, which are business-like and ignore his offending, Britton asked Erin to send him books on dog domestication and behaviour.
“He’s writing about this as if he can, sort of, continue his fantasies in his mind, and it makes me really angry,” she added.
Never sexually attracted to humans
In reports prepared ahead of sentencing, Britton revealed he had been sexually interested in animals since he was a child and attempted to mask it with stilted attempts at human relationships.
He was diagnosed with zoophilia, a sexual attraction to animals, and zoo sadism, where cruelty to animals provides sexual pleasure.
Britton also provided his own hand-written apology to the court.
“I take full responsibility for the demeaning crimes I perpetrated on dogs. I deeply regret the pain and trauma that I caused to innocent animals, and consequently to my family, friends and members of the community I affected,” he wrote.
“I let you all down, and I’m truly sorry. I now acknowledge that I’ve been fighting a rare paraphilic disorder for much of my life, and that shame and fear prevented me from seeking the proper help I needed.
“Please give my family the space they deserve to heal. They were not aware or involved in any way.”
