Women who were part of global monkey torturing network are jailed as judge blasts their 'depraved, sickening and wicked behaviour'

Two women who were part of an international monkey torturing network which saw animals sadistically beaten, burned and even doused in acid have been jailed after a judge heard harrowing evidence of their sadism.

A judge said the actions of Holly LeGresley, 37, and pet-owning grandmother Adriana Orme, 56, were 'beyond comprehension for most of society' after a court was outlined a catalogue of horrifying abuse which included monkeys being attacked with scissors.

The pair faced a maximum sentence of five years each in custody but Judge James Burbidge KC jailed LeGresley for two years and Orme for 15 months.

The judge told both women their offences represented a course of conduct that can only be described as 'depraved, sickening and wicked'.

He said both defendants had high culpability factors from prolonged and serious cruelty, and sadistic behaviour, and said LeGresley had played a leading role in the torture network.

The judge told the pair: 'Neither of you can explain away your conduct as pure fantasy as you seemed to assert in interviews with police.'

A year-long BBC investigation into the torture network in 2022 revealed a chain of participants around the globe who would 'commission' people living in Thailand or Indonesia to film monkeys being tortured to later be shared online.

BBC journalists went undercover in one of the main Telegram torture groups after the charity Action for Primates discovered people were paying to buy monkeys in Indonesia to be tortured.

Journalists in the Telegram group found hundreds of people trading extreme torture ideas, with the goal of creating bespoke videos which were then sold, sometimes for as little as £10.

Worcester Crown Court heard the two women, both from Worcestershire, were participants in online chatrooms were abuse was discussed.

LeGresley, who had researched where she could buy a monkey in the UK, went by the name of 'The Immolator' online - which the judge said 'indicated a desire to maim or torture', adding LeGresley appeared to 'revel' in the moniker. She effectively acted as an 'archivist', offering to help catalogue a user's collection, the judge said.

Judge Burbidge told the pair: 'You promoted the physical torture of monkeys by others, you shared videos and images of such torture and abuse, retained images and videos for what appeared to be your own pleasure and amusement..'

He said 'socially awkward' Orme's involvement in the network began with her wanting to stop 'this outrageous behaviour' but said she then 'got a taste for it'.

And he told LeGresley she had 'caused significant pain, torture and death to the monkeys in Indonesia'.

The gore-obsessed woman - who lives with her parents - previously described Hannibal Lecter, a serial killer who eats his victims, and Pennywise, the clown from IT who preys on children, as her 'horror icons'.

But other posts on social media showed her cradling and cuddling cockatiels or holding a tarantula.

The torture network shared 61 folders with approximately 3,000 images and videos, the court heard.

LeGresley sobbed in the dock as the court heard how she planned to create videos showing severe injuries to monkeys.

She expressed a desire for a baby monkey to undergo severe trauma, and also for one monkey to watch another animal die.

She also ordered a whip-round for one member who had funded videos, writing: 'She's done so much... delivering one of the best videos we've seen for a long time.'

The judge was read a catalogue of monkey torture methods which included attacks with scissors. One monkey died after being tortured for around 10 minutes.

The court heard Orme, who attended court with her husband, was known as Noelle in the online chatrooms.

She had more than 1,200 cached images of monkey torture on her computer, and a USB stick seized by police contained five videos of monkeys being tortured.

Prosecutor Ben Close said Orme expressed a preference for mental torture, wanting to torture monkeys and heal them, before torturing them again.

In a post on Facebook she wrote: 'My monkey hatred seems to be back.

'Shame they don't do a diploma in monkey hatred.'

Ahead of the sentencing, the women were greeted by placard-waving protesters shouting 'shame' as they arrived at court. One sign read 'social media enables animal abuse'.

LeGresley, from Kidderminster, admitted uploading 22 images and 132 videos of monkeys being tortured to online chat groups. She also admitted paying £17.24 via PayPal to a contact in order to encourage or assist the commission of acts causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.

Orme, from Upton upon Severn, has admitted sending one image and 26 videos featuring monkey torture into chat groups, between 14 March 2022 and 16 June 2022 .

Softly-spoken Orme further admitted encouraging an offence by making a £10 payment to a PayPal account - the price of seeing a baby macaque being tortured.

The court heard Orme had taken steps to address her behaviour and was on the waiting list for cognitive behavioural therapy, while LeGresley had a long history of depression and anxiety and was likely to be diagnosed with autism.

Despite their shared interest in monkey torture, the pair had never met, and only set eyes on each other for the first time at their initial magistrates court hearing in May.

LeGresley and Orme were members of a Telegram group run by Michael Macartney from Virginia, USA, who called himself ''the Torture King''. Macartney, who was recently sentenced to three years and four months in prison for conspiring to make and distribute "animal crush" videos, ran several online Telegram groups that facilitated the 'torture, murder and sexually sadistic mutilation' of baby long-tailed macaques for 'fun.'

In their group chats on Telegram, Orme told other members: 'I love mental torture. It's funny what you can reach and see how they change.''I would start f****** them up mentally, then slowly bit by bit physically, torture them, heal them, torture them, heal them. Keep them alive like this for as long as possible.'

LeGresley said: 'I feel very satisfied when I see monkeys suffer too. It makes me happy...whats the point in just killing them? That's no fun.'Evidence obtained during the investigations by Action for Primates, a UK-based project that advocates globally on behalf of non-human primates, and Lady Freethinker, a US-based animal protection organisation, was given to various law enforcement agencies and spurred the BBC investigation .

Sarah Kite, spokesman for Action for Primates, said: 'Anyone involved in this type of behaviour must be held to account, and others need to know that such extreme cruelty and depravity will never be tolerated. We hope these sentences will deter others from becoming involved in these perverted and sadistic activities.'

Nina Jackel, Founder of Lady Freethinker, said the horrors inflicted on baby monkeys for online videos were 'sickening', adding: 'Those involved in the creation or distribution of animal torture content for 'enjoyment' pose a threat to both animals and humans, and they must be held accountable.'