Man who posted 'horrific' monkey torture videos on Facebook jailed for 20 months

A man who posted “horrific” and "disturbing" videos of baby monkeys being tortured on Facebook has been jailed for 20 months.

Peter Stanley posted three videos showing the torture of long-tailed macaques on a private site, since shut down, linked to the intentional harm of animals for entertainment.

The 43-year-old posted videos along with comments, including: “A fave of mine this one.”

But the videos were spotted by an animal welfare group and the Facebook user ID was given to police who traced Stanley and raided his home.

Detectives seized a mobile phone revealing 75 videos of monkeys being tortured.

Stanley was also found to have been searching terms on the internet such as: “How to tell if a baby monkey is distressed” and “Horse Porn”.

After his arrest, he told police he had become aware of these videos and wanted to know just how bad they were so joined a Facebook group.

In order to join, members had to post three videos to show they would not report the group to authorities. He did not himself make the videos or harm animals directly.

Stanley, of Dovecote Avenue, Dovecote, Liverpool, admitted three counts of publishing obscene material, before he was jailed for 20 months at Liverpool Crown Court.

His arrest came after the broadcast of a BBC TV documentary, The Monkey Haters, which uncovered the existence of streaming videos containing the torture of baby monkeys.

Videos, primarily filmed in South East Asia, showed the “disciplining” and tormenting of captive infant monkeys and the deliberate infliction of pain and fear, causing physical harm as well as emotional distress.

Thomas Quirk, senior crown prosecutor of the Crown Prosecution Service, described the videos posted by Stanley as "truly horrific".

He added: "The torture imposed on these animals included sexual torture and it has been a distressing case for both the police and the prosecution team to deal with."

Sarah Kite, co-founder of Action for Primates, hopes the prosecution of Stanley is a "wake-up call" to social media companies.

She said: “Those individuals involved in distributing graphic and obscene content depicting the violent and sadistic torture and killing of baby monkeys need to know that their behaviour is not only vile, but is also a crime.

“We also hope that this prosecution will be a wake-up call to Meta and other social media companies that continue to allow this highly disturbing and graphic content to be posted on their platforms.”

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