Adam Britton: Bestiality monster’s ex-wife Erin reveals shock request he made from behind bars

WARNING: Confronting content.

The ex-wife of a depraved zoologist jailed over heinous acts of bestiality has broken her silence, revealing the shocking request he made to her from behind bars that shows his interest in animals continues.

Adam Britton was exposed as the monster behind some of Australia’s worst acts of animal cruelty when police raided his semi-rural home south of Darwin in April 2022, after a horrific 15 minute video was sent anonymously to authorities.

Once celebrated for his work with animals, particularly crocodiles, and who had rubbed shoulders with Prince Harry and David Attenborough — Britton was arrested and charged with dozens of offenses, including bestiality, animal cruelty, aggravated animal cruelty, and child exploitation crimes.

In August, he was finally sentenced to 10 years behind bars after pleading guilty to 63 charges.

“I cannot comprehend still how somebody can be so depraved, so evil. He’s just destroyed my entire life,” Britton’s ex-wife Erin said during a 60 Minutes interview. It was the first time she had spoken publicly about the impact Britton’s horrendous actions have had on her life.

Britton filmed his hours of offending and uploaded the videos online, hiding his identity behind the usernames of Monster and Cerberus.

Police identified him from a lead worn by one of the dogs in the anonymous video. Dog remains were also found in their freezer, which Erin believes was used to feed their crocodiles.

Erin said it was still a daily struggle for her to understand whether they were warning signs of the abuse that she may have missed.

“That’s the question I’ve been asking myself every day, ‘why did I not know, what did I miss’ — I’ve been scratching my head...trying to play back events of the last few years to see if there is any detail or anything and but there’s nothing.”

Erin described the man she once loved as a “psychopath hiding in plain sight”.

She was away when police first raided their property, and Erin only found out what the offences entailed when she spoke to Britton’s lawyer the next day.

“She told me that there were crimes of animal cruelty and 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; my brain was having trouble processing and understanding how such a horrible thing could even exist in the world, and then to find out this was relating to him.

At the time of the raid, Erin said she and Britton had been living in separate rooms. However, they still had a “a very close bond, friendship, partnership.

“But it had been a number of years since we were romantically together. He was spending a lot of time on his computer and when I talked to him he was quite withdrawn, increasingly so.”

She revealed that while he was waiting for sentencing, Britton wrote “very disturbing” letters to her from behind bars.

In one, he requested she send him books to read: “I’m looking to read some good non-fiction books about dog domestication, breed history behaviour and associated sciences for example there is one called The Wolf in your living room or on your couch or something like that there must be several on this related subject,” Britton wrote.

Erin said the letters made her “really angry”.

“This messes with my head. Really, really disturbing, especially considering his crimes, that he is writing about this that he can continue his fantasies in his mind makes me really angry,” she said.

She now refuses to read any more of his letters and has dedicated her life to protecting animals, adding her voice to a bid to toughen laws for people who hurt animals.

“He is a psychopath, he doesn’t have any consciousness of what is right or wrong. I feel like I have lost so much of my life and I feel like I have been duped. I am angry and I’m upset. There’s nothing I could have done but it is very, very disturbing.”

The detective who led the investigation into the depraved crimes told The Nightly it was the “most horrific case” the NT Police Force has ever seen.

In his first interview about the high-profile and long-running case, Det-Sgt. Mark Cronin said catching and prosecuting Britton had been a team effort.

Despite having spent a decade fighting child abuse, sex crimes and domestic violence, Det-Sgt. Cronin said Britton’s offending was definitely the worst he had ever seen.

“Yes, this is certainly the most horrific case we’ve encountered,” he said.

“Unfortunately, this investigation has shed light on the fact that such crimes are more widespread and similar cases exist globally.”

Even NT Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael Grant, who sent Britton to jail, was loath to read out the details of his “grotesque depravity and cruelty” in court.

In fact, he repeatedly warned those present that the proceedings would involve graphic descriptions which had “the potential to cause nervous shock or some other adverse psychological reaction in persons who are exposed to them”.

Justice Grant said Britton’s offending had involved a degree of depravity and reprehensibility which falls “entirely outside any ordinary human conception and comprehension”.

“Your decision as a mature and well-educated man to begin and continue performing these unspeakable acts was the result of evil motivation and intention, rather than impaired mental functioning,” he said.

“On each occasion the violence inflicted on these animals was severe and usually prolonged.

“The suffering of these animals was indescribable.”

To report animal cruelty, contact the RSPCA.