A ‘gentle giant’ who secretly shared a ‘deeply deviant’ video of a tortured baby monkey on Facebook has been jailed for 20 months.
Peter Stanley, 42, is part of a private Facebook group called ‘Monkey Sauce’ where members are encouraged to view and post videos of themselves abusing monkeys.
Stanley, who previously worked for a solicitors’ firm, shared three videos of himself in the group, and left comments such as ‘A fave of mine this one’ on other sickening posts.
But unknown to Stanley, the group had been hacked by an animal welfare activist, who sent his Facebook ID to the police.
During a raid on his home, detectives seized a cell phone containing 75 videos of monkeys in distress.
Stanley was also found to have searched for terms on the internet such as: ‘Horse Porno’ and ‘How to tell if a baby monkey is in distress’.
After his arrest, on March 26, Stanley told police that he joined the group out of curiosity, and that the rules required each member to post three videos to ‘prove’ he would not report the group to the authorities.
The video, which is between seven and 15 minutes long, shows the baby monkey being horribly tortured by people believed to be in Thailand or Indonesia.
Among the extreme violence inflicted on monkeys are mutilation and torture with instruments including pliers, axes and machetes.
Stanley doesn’t make videos of himself or harm animals directly, but tells a moderator of a group he wants to join because he ‘hates monkeys’.
During a hearing at Liverpool Crown Court, Stanley admitted three counts of publishing obscene material before being jailed this morning.
The arrests were made following the broadcast of a BBC TV documentary, The Monkey Haters, which uncovered the existence of streaming videos containing the torture of baby monkeys.
Thomas Quirk, senior crown prosecutor for Mersey-Cheshire Crown Prosecution Service, said: “The video posted by Peter Stanley on his Facebook page is absolutely appalling.
‘The torture they inflicted on the animals included sexual abuse and it has been a difficult case for the police and the prosecution team.
‘Why anyone would want to get involved in this is beyond me. Peter Stanley publishes video of animals being brutally injured for fun.’
Charles Lander, defending, told the court today that two references had described the defendant as ‘caring and friendly’, who was ‘full of integrity’ but now also full of regret and remorse.
After announcing his arrest, he was fired and his partner of eight years ended their relationship. He has since lived with his parents who describe their son as a ‘gentle giant’ and ‘can’t believe he’s sitting in a crown court.’
Sentencing, Judge Ian Harris told the defendant: ‘This offense is totally repellent and has no place in civilized society. You are a volunteer, not a conscript.’ The judge told the defendant that an immediate custodial sentence was ‘inevitable’ and sentenced him to 20 months in prison.
Speaking after the hearing, Sarah Kite, co-founder of Action for Primates, said: ‘We are very grateful to Merseyside Police for taking this action against the posting of monkey torture videos on Facebook.
“Those involved in the distribution of graphic and obscene content depicting the brutal and sadistic torture and killing of baby monkeys must understand that such behavior is not only evil, but also a crime.
‘We also hope that this prosecution will be a wake-up call for Meta and other social media companies that continue to allow this disturbing and graphic content to be posted on their platforms.’
Contact the news team by emailing webnews@metro.co.uk.
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