THE woman formerly married to the man dubbed the “world’s worst animal abuser” has told of the moment she learned of her ex-husband’s sick crimes.
British crocodile expert Adam Britton, 53, was last month sentenced to 10 years in prison for raping and torturing 42 dogs – killing at least 39 of them.
Britton with wife Erin before his horrific crimes were discoveredFacebook
Britton (centre) had even worked alongside Sir David AttenboroughCroodilian Blogspot
Britton pictured with a crocodileFacebook
A Darwin-based documentary maker, he appeared on production for the BBC and National Geographic, and even worked alongside Sir David Attenborough.
But behind the wildlife warrior was a sadistic dog rapist and killer who was once heard saying on a dark-web streaming service that he loves “to hurt dogs” and “I can’t stop myself hurting dogs”.
Now, Britton’s ex-wife Erin has for the first time spoken out about her marriage with the monster, telling Australian TV program 60 Minutes that she had no idea about his diabolical double life and thought they were soulmates.
She said: “I cannot comprehend still how somebody can be so depraved, so evil, and how he’s just destroyed my entire life.”
Erin was away on a work trip when cops stormed into their Darwin home and arrested Britton, saying she had “no idea why or what the crimes were”.
But she has opened up on the shocking moment she got a call from a lawyer to explain the horror.
She said: “She told me that there were crimes of animal cruelty and, you know, obviously there was bestiality.
“And when she told me bestiality my brain was, like, denial, ‘no’.
“Hearing that information is the most awful thing you could ever hear about your partner. It was so shocking.
“And I felt sick I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t think.
“My brain was having trouble processing and understanding how such a horrible thing could even exist in the world, and then to find out that this was relating to, to him.”
Britton sourced dogs off online marketplace Gumtree, posing as a carer.
Knives, fishhooks and saws were all part of his repertoire used to commit the monstrous crimes.
He filmed his deeply dark work, uploading videos to a sick base of fans.
One viewer tipped off animal welfare authorities, sparking a police investigation.
Detective Sergeant Mark Cronin said the tip-off was a “15-minute video of a naked Caucasian man in the bush doing indescribable things to dogs”.
When the cops then raided the vicious Britton’s home, they discovered dog remains in his freezer and camera tripod believed to be used for filming the terror.
Speaking out the dog remains, Erin said he most likely used them to feed his crocodiles.
She added that Adam did start to act strangely over the time period he committed the heinous crimes.
Erin said: “We were living in separate rooms at that time. We still had a very close bond, partnership, friendship, but it’d been a number of years since we were romantically together.
“He was spending a lot of time on his computer. And when I’d talk to him he was quite withdrawn, increasingly so.”
In a haunting revelation, Erin said she also feared her pets that had died may have also been victims.