Revealed: Distraught wife of British zoologist Adam Britton who filmed himself raping and torturing dogs ‘has left him and fled Australia after changing her surname’ as neighbours insist she knew nothing of his depraved behaviour

The distraught wife of British zoologist Adam Britton, who filmed himself raping, torturing and killing dogs, has dumped him and fled the country, MailOnline has learned.

Erin Britton has dropped her husband’s surname and is said to have gone on a six-month safari away from public places where she fears she has been tainted by her 52-year-old husband’s profligate private life.

The National Geographic website suggests she will be going on an international wildlife expedition, but it appears she will be traveling under a new name.

A tradesman doing some work on the couple’s exotic property told MailOnline: ‘Is she coming back? That is very doubtful. She has ended the marriage and is gone, although given her husband’s shocking behavior, she will live in fear of being recognized wherever she ends up.”

Amy Moore, a hotel worker in the small town of Humpty Doo, just a few miles from the Britton couple’s estate, said she felt sorry for Erin, who was unaware of her husband’s sadistic secret life of torturing dogs , raped and killed. .

‘It looks like she’s just up and left him – and can you blame her when you hear about all the terrible things he confessed to during a previous court appearance.’

Adam Britton (centre) with his wife Erin (left) and David Attenborough (right) during filming for a BBC documentary Cold Blood

For Erin’s part, there are fond memories of feeding wildlife – mainly crocodiles – on the property where David Attenborough once hosted to film sequences for the BBC Bafta-winning series Life in Cold Blood.

In the remote communities that make up Australia’s sweltering Northern Territory, tough outback men and women shook their heads in disgust yesterday as the name Adam Britton dominated all conversations.

What locals agreed on was that there was general agreement that the zoologist with expertise in crocodiles should never be allowed out of prison when he is sentenced in the coming weeks following his earlier plea of ​​guilty to animal cruelty.

“You would have thought that, being born and raised in this region, we would have seen and heard it all,” says self-confessed chatterbox Amy Moore who lives in Humpty Doo – with a population of 4,313 and a mystery about the origin of the name.

“It’s always been a fun place to live or visit, but now we live just a few miles from a place that shocked the whole world.”

She was referring to McMinns Lagoon, where Britton lived with his wife Erin, who helped him maintain the exotic property.

‘This man – even though I don’t like to call him a man – is a real sick person

Other local people said yesterday they did not believe Erin knew of her husband’s profligate secret life, in which he has admitted to torturing and killing animals, sexually assaulting them and disposing of their bodies around the property.

Britton tortured and abused not only his own pets Ursa and Bolt (pictured together), for whom he created an Instagram page, but also the dogs of pet owners he trapped through the online marketplace platform Gumtree Australia

Britton has told a Darwin court he couldn’t stop his urges and wanted them to continue.

“The rumor around these parts is that when Erin heard what her husband had been up to, she fled – just packed up and left,” Mrs Moore said.

‘She is far away, on safari somewhere, but it is impossible to imagine how she will ever get over this.

‘They pretty much kept to themselves unless they were doing business with film companies or conservationists like David Attenborough. No one I’ve spoken to can remember seeing them out and about together, such as having a meal together at one of the local taverns.”

‘We residents enjoyed living here; it’s a truly exotic place and now this person has traveled across the world from England a few years ago and infected all our lives by doing what he did to those poor animals near us.’