UK FIRST: MAN AND WOMEN JAILED FOR TORTURING AND FILMING ANIMAL CRUELTY
Four individuals have been convicted and imprisoned for creating videos that depicted small animals being tortured and killed.This case is notably the first of its kind in the UK.
Craig Chapman, aged 27, along with Christine Besford, 26, Sarah Cooke, 22, and Tharaza Smallwood, also 22, all pleaded guilty on May 7 to conspiracy to publish obscene material.
They also admitted to separate charges related to the cruelty inflicted on small animals.
Prosecutor Peter Cooper told Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court that Chapman had boasted online about supplying videos showing animal torture.
The videos included scenes of animals being stamped on with high heels, a mouse taped to a wooden board, and the most horrific scene showing a kitten with its hind leg glued to a board.
Chapman paid the others between £100 and £700 to participate in the cruelty.
The animals, which included mice, a guinea pig, and a kitten, were sourced from pet stores and classified advertisements.
The RSPCA report indicated that all the animals died from internal injuries caused by the tortures, suffering immense cruelty before death.
Judge Granville Styler sentenced Chapman to two years for conspiracy to publish the videos and four months concurrently for cruelty charges.
Besford, Cooke, and Smallwood each received four months for conspiracy and cruelty, both to run concurrently.
The court also banned all four from keeping animals for life and ordered the destruction of the videos.
Outside the court, RSPCA chief inspector Terry Spamer highlighted the case as the first of its kind in the UK, calling it the worst animal cruelty case he had encountered in his 25-year career.
