A MONKEY torture expert has lifted the lid on vile animal abuse rings where defenceless creatures are put through unimaginable pain.
Holly LeGresley, 37, and Adriana Orme, 56, were jailed yesterday for a total of over three years for their roles in sick online groups which saw baby monkeys taken from their mums, abused then killed.
Action for PrimatesA caged macaque which was tortured[/caption]
Animal Friends Jogja/Action for PrimatesThe monkeys were subject to vile abuse by sick torture rings[/caption]
BBCTwo British women were jailed over a perverted monkey torture network[/caption]
The sadistic pair, both from Worcestershire, were part of a torture ring where fiends paid for the animals to be killed for sexual kicks, with LeGresley leading a secret life as a moderator in one global online group.
Under the guise of The Immolator, which means someone who practises sacrifice, she published 22 images and 132 monkey torture videos to web creeps.
Her co-defendant Adriana Orme also played a major role in one online group.
Le Gresley, who the judge said played a “leading role”, was jailed for two years, while Orme was handed a 15-month term.
Now, Chief Inspector Kevin Lacks-Kelly, Head of the UK National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU) has spoken to The Sun about the horrific nature of the abuse.
The senior police officer works on a team supporting cops on wildlife crime units and takes responsibility for tackling illegal wildlife trade in the UK and abroad.
Insp. Lacks-Kelly exclusively told The Sun: “This specific torture community had a collective hatred for primates.
“They would pool together money and it would go to either a suspect in the US or a suspect in Indonesia.
“The sick aim was to do the most harm to the monkey while keeping it alive as long as possible. It’s like the hunger games.”
The NWCU head said he was concerned about a “worrying rise” in these torture videos.
He continued: “What we’ve found over the course of this investigation is that globally, there a worrying emerging trend of torturing cats and felines.
“Within, the wider investigation one of the groups were also trying to lobby its members to save up money to get a silver back gorilla to torture.
“It’s not just limited to these monkeys, there is just a sick thirst for torturing animals.”
Cops discovered how hundreds of people where paying Indonesians to kill infant long-tailed macaques on video.
Insp. Lacks-Kelly went on to explain why LeGresley and Orme were part of groups that specifically targeted macaques to torture.
Monkeys were abused and killed in the sick torture ring
Holly LeGresley was jailed yesterday for her major role in the group
Adriana Orme was also thrown behind bars yesterday
Insp. Lacks-Kelly said: “Macaques look the most similar to human babies, they even put them in nappies before they torture them – it’s vile.
“The low level stuff includes squirting them with water, hurting them with candle wax and restraining them with ties.
“But the worst stuff includes putting them blenders or a technique called ‘kebabing’.
“They would stick a skewer up their bum going through all the way through their mouth, trying to keep it alive as long as possible – it’s absolutely disgusting.”
The Chief Inspector added: “I’ve seen videos of them cutting off fingers, limbs, causing sexual trauma, they’ve been set on fire and tortured in unimaginable ways.
“I’ve been doing this for almost 22 years and this is the worst I’ve ever seen. It just shows the absolute worst of humanity.”
‘WORST OF HUMANITY’
He blasted Orme and LeGresley for their appalling excuses in trying to justify the abuse.
The Chief Inspector told us how the two women claimed to have something called “happy valley syndrome” which doesn’t exist.
Lacks-Kelly explained: “It’s almost like a pre-arranged alibi. They say they have an inherent hate for pregnant women and small children and so they consume monkey torture videos to fight this as the lesser of two evils.
“Its just a ruse and psychologists have already debunked this. It shows the complex lengths people go to to dismiss this as an excuse.”
On chats he had seen, the Chief Inspector describes how he saw group members brazenly talking about how they would use it as an excuse when they got caught.
Many also believed that as the videos were happening in Indonesia they hadn’t even done anything wrong.
‘LIKE ABUSING KIDS’
Lacks-Kelly continued: “They love the screams the look of frustration and pain on their faces. It’s like you’ve got a kid tied up and you’re abusing a kid, they’re no different from those.
“Drowning, putting them in a blender, smashing them against a wall they want to see everything happen.
“Scum of the earth. It’s terrifying that these people walk amongst us.”
Mr Lacks-Kelly also said he had seen firsthand how vile members of the torture ring commented “this monkey looks like a kid” while it suffered.
“The language they use shows what type of pathetic people they are.”
Sick pair jailed
Adriana Orme, 56, from Upton-upon-Severn, and Holly Le Gresley, 37, from Kidderminster, had previously admitted being part of a vile global network.
Yesterday, LeGresley, who the judge said played a “leading role”, was jailed for two years, while Orme was handed a 15-month term.
Worcester Crown Court heard graphic details of the suffering experienced by young macaques in Indonesia – with the footage sold to people around the world.
More than 130 videos and 22 images were uploaded by Le Gresley, who the court heard had been an archivist, cataloguing and distributing some of the footage.
LeGresley even ran a sadistic poll on which torture method should be used on a baby monkey.
Orme, 56, sent one image and 26 videos featuring monkey torture between March 14, 2022, and June 16, 2022.
She also made a payment of £10 to a PayPal account – the cost of seeing a baby macaque being tortured.
When her home was searched, cops found a USB stick containing five saved videos of monkeys being abused.
There were also 1,252 cached images of monkey torture on her computer.
LeGresley made a payment of £17.24 to a PayPal account to encourage cruelty.
She also expressed a desire for a baby monkey to undergo severe trauma and for one monkey to watch another animal die.
As she described inflicting one injury after another, she said: “If it doesn’t suffer first, it seems like a waste.”
She also told how she loved “non-lethal” psychological torment that did not kill the monkeys.
Orme also expressed a desire for mental torture – claiming she wanted to abuse the animals, heal them, then attack them again.
She also wrote on Facebook: “My monkey hatred seems to be back. Shame they don’t do a diploma in monkey hatred.”
The charges came after the BBC exposed a global monkey torture gang following a year-long investigation.
Action for Primates, a UK-based advocacy project, assisted cops in the investigation that saw Orme and LeGresley thrown behind bars.
Its co-founder, Sarah Kite, said it was some of the most gut-wrenching content she had ever encountered.
She told The Sun: “This is the most horrifying cruelty I have encountered in my years of working in animal protection.
“To think up methods of torturing helpless and vulnerable baby monkeys, and then pay for someone to inflict such extreme violence is so disturbing that I strongly believe these people must be permanently banned from having contact with children or animals.
“We hope the prosecutions and punishments that are now taking place will deter others from becoming involved in these perverted and sadistic activities.”
This is the most horrifying cruelty I have encountered in my years of working in animal protection.”
Sarah Kite, Action for Primates
Sarah told us how LeGresley was an administrator of the Torture King’s group and ran polls for group members to vote on the method of torture they wanted to see inflicted upon a monkey.
Sick choices included sealing a monkey inside a jar with red ants, applying a painful substance to the wounds created by a cheese grater or glueing together various parts of a monkey’s body, including his mouth to his penis.
She said: “One video involving red ants was made and circulated to ‘Torture King’s’ group.
“A monkey was horrifically tortured for this video. It involved shutting the monkey inside a jar with red ants, gouging out one of his eyes, and impaling him with a stick.”
In other videos, Sarah told of how a baby monkey was wrapped in cellophane and kicked him around like a football.
Afterwards, the innocent animal was tossed into a cage while still completely wrapped up.
‘ANIMALS RIPPED APART’
Kevin Lacks-Kelly told The Sun that while macaques are not abused in the UK, he is aware of torture rings with domestic animals.
He said: “In the UK I’ve seen foxes nailed to wood, stakes put through their mouth.
“During my service I’ve seen dogs and wild animals being hung, foxes and badgers burnt or ripped apart by gangs of dogs.
“Badgers have also been shot, tied up and dragged on the back of quad bikes.
“There is also a huge emergence of catapulting in the UK.”
In the face of such grim realities, the fight against animal cruelty is more crucial than ever.
On the monkey torture rings, Insp. Lacks-Kelly said: “Categorically, people who hurt animals go on to hurt people. If we had not caught these people, what would they have gone on to do?
“If we don’t take these people out they will be a risk to society. They are always chasing that hit, chasing that fix.”
As the NWCU ramps up efforts to dismantle these rings, Lacks-Kelly is determined to send a clear message: “Our strategic objective is to go after the ones who cause the most harm.
“It sends a message to those out there watching it that you will be caught and prosecuted.”
LinkedInChief Inspector Kevin Lacks-Kelly, Head of the UK National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU)[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
