Adam Britton: NT zoologist raped dozens of puppies and tortured 39 dogs to death before telling owners their pets were ‘settling in well’ at his shelter

A prominent Northern Territory crocodile expert and Charles Darwin University academic has pleaded guilty to a raft of animal cruelty charges, including the rape and torture of dogs.

Adam Robert Corden Britton, 51, began his crime in 2014 by torturing and sexually exploiting more than 42 dogs until his arrest in April 2022.

Britton stood calmly as he pleaded guilty to the 56 charges in the NT Supreme Court on Monday.

He also pleaded guilty to four counts of accessing and communicating child abuse material.

Before prosecutor Marty Aust read out the agreed facts of the charge, NT Chief Justice Michael Grant urged the public gallery, security staff and media to leave the court.

“These facts contain material that can only be described as grotesque and perverse atrocities that are confrontational and disturbing and which, in my opinion, have the potential to cause a nervous shock,” he said.

“I’ll leave that up to you anyway, but the possibilities have been described.”

Details of the violation are too gruesome to publish, but resulted in the deaths of 39 dogs.

“The perpetrator has had a sadistic sexual interest in animals and in particular dogs,” Aust said.

As well as torturing his own dogs, Britton also bought other dogs from Gumtree from unsuspecting owners in the Darwin region.

“(He) often built a bond with the dog owners during negotiations over the custody of their animals, many of whom had to reluctantly give away their pets due to travel or work commitments,” Mr Aust said.

In one scenario, Britton sent a message to the owners of a large brown dog to reassure them that the animal was ‘well in place’.

“Wolfe was relaxed, eating well and enjoying her new home,” the post said.

But unbeknownst to the previous owners, the dog had already been “sexually exploited, tortured and killed,” Aust said.

Britton, a former academic who once hosted legendary broadcaster and biologist David Attenborough, shared videos and images of himself sexually exploiting the dogs on online forums under pseudonyms.

A video was eventually sent to the NT Animal Welfare Branch and passed on to NT Police who arrested Britton in April 2022.

He has been in pre-trial detention since then.

Britton was a leading NT crocodile expert and senior researcher at CDU.

None of his transgressions would have been against the reptiles.

His case will return to court on December 13 for sentencing.