Monkey torture pair sentenced after global network uncovered

BBC investigation infiltrated monkey torture group The pair's role was exposed after a year-long investigation by BBC Eye into the network, which began life on YouTube, before moving to private groups on the messaging app Telegram.

BBC journalists went undercover in one of the main Telegram torture groups, where hundreds of people gathered to come up with extreme torture ideas and commission people in Indonesia and other Asian countries to carry them out.

The goal was to create bespoke videos which were then sold, sometimes for as little as £10.

Charges admitted by the pair On 19 August Adriana Orme, 56, from Upton Upon Severn, Worcestershire, pleaded guilty to publishing an obscene and intentionally encouraging or assisting an offence - namely the causing of unnecessary suffering to a protected animal.

In relation to the charge of publishing an obscene , Orme was accused of sending one image and 26 videos featuring monkey torture into chat groups, between 14 March 2022 and 16 June 2022.

On 7 May, Holly Le Gresley, 37, from Kidderminster, admitted uploading 22 images and 132 videos of monkeys being tortured to online chat groups.

She pleaded guilty to two charges - encouraging and assisting unnecessary suffering to a protected animal and publishing an obscene .

Our live coverage of sentencing Two women from Worcestershire are due to be sentenced at Worcester Crown Court this afternoon after admitting offences connected with a global online monkey-torture ring.

Long-tailed macaques were filmed being abused and in some cases killed, as part of the wider network that stretched from the US to Indonesia, a BBC Eye investigation revealed .

Adriana Orme, from Upton upon Severn, and Holly Le Gresley, from Kidderminister, were arrested and charged earlier this year.

We'll bring you live updates from the court.