The ringleader of an international network dedicated to torturing and killing monkeys for entertainment has been jailed.
Bartosz Poklek distributed "horrific" videos which sold for hundreds of pounds and wrote scripts for how the animals should be harmed and killed.
The 30-year-old from Bexley in south-east London had admitted running a "large-scale monkey torture ring" between June 2023 and September 2025. He was sentenced to three years and three months in prison at Woolwich Crown Court.
"It is no exaggeration to say that as a lawyer or as a judge I have never encountered such a horrific case of animal abuse in my life," Judge Christopher Grout told the court.
"There is a vile underground community who have a hatred of monkeys, particularly baby monkeys, and take pleasure in seeing such monkeys being tortured and killed."
The judge said Poklek would be released after serving about a third of his prison sentence under the Sentencing Act 2026, and called for longer sentences for animal abuse, which currently has a five-year maximum.
He added: "If ever there was a case that demonstrates that the statutory maximum for animal cruelty is too low, this is it."
Poklek was captured after he tried to get hold of court documents from a monkey torture criminal case in the US.
The investigation involved British police from the National Wildlife Crime Unit, the Metropolitan Police, West Mercia Police, and officials from the US Homeland Security Investigations and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
'Vile trade'
Poklek also pleaded guilty to publishing obscene videos for gain, as well as possession of indecent images of children and possession of ketamine.
Alexia Nicol, representing Poklek, told the court he "finds it difficult to explain how he became involved in this".
Adeolu Odusote, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "Bartosz Poklek was a key cog in a vile trade that oversaw and encouraged the sickening torture of monkeys. Treating vulnerable animals in this way is a horrifying practice that must be rooted out wherever it's found.
"Today's result shows that the CPS will use every power available to ensure the enablers of abuse in these online communities can't hide from their depraved and abhorrent actions and face the full extent of the law."