(Image: Merseyside Police)

Man jailed for sickening animal crime so unusual judge had no guidelines to refer to

Peter Stanley, 42, was part of a sickening private Facebook group called 'Monkey Sauce' where members were encouraged to view and post their own disturbing videos

27 Sep 2024, 15:04 by Patrick Edrich, Taite Johnson · Wales Online

A 42-year-old man has been sent to prison for sharing sickening videos online in a private Facebook group in a case that the judge di not have sentencing guidelines for. Peter Stanley was sentenced in Liverpool after sharing videos of baby monkeys being in tortured in the first-of-its-kind prosecution in the north west.

Stanley was part of a horrifying Facebook group called "Monkey Sauce" where members viewed and posted their own disturbing videos. Prosecuting, Christopher Taylor, told Liverpool Crown Court on Wednesday morning that Stanley posted three videos of baby macaque monkeys being abused between April 3 and June 24 2023.

The videos varying between seven and 15 minutes in length, showed baby monkeys being disturbingly tortured by people believed to be in either Indonesia or Thailand, the court heard. Extreme videos included monkeys being nailed to a tree, mutilated and tortured with instruments including pliers, a hatchet and a machete.

The court also heard that the defendant commented on videos he shared. He wrote on one video "now do as you are told", then on another he said "a fav of mine this one". On his third video he commented "this rat has nailed it".

Mr Taylor and defence counsel Charles Lander informed the court that there were no guidelines to refer to in this case as it was the first of its kind to be sentenced in the region. Mr Taylor spoke of a case heard at Worcester Crown Court where two women, Adriana Orme and Holly Le Gresley, will be sentenced in October for their involvement in being part of a group that paid for baby monkeys to be taken from their mothers, then tortured and killed for pleasure.

In that case, the court heard that Le Gresley admitted to uploading 22 images and 132 videos. They were exposed by a BBC investigation 'The Monkey Haters', uncovering existence of streaming videos containing the torture of baby monkeys.

Stanley was exposed for his disturbing behaviour after Sarah Kite - founder of Action for Primates and a former mental health nurse - gave information to the police after a group volunteer saw what he was posting. For the latest court reports, sign up to our crime newsletter here

Mr Taylor told the court: "While the internet can be a force for good it can also be used for the worst of humanity. This is such a case."

A warrant was carried out at Stanley's home address on March 26 leading to his arrest. Police seized his mobile phone, where they found online searches including "how to tell if a baby monkey is distressed" and bestiality pornography involving horses.

He told officers during his police interview that he had started by watching videos of monkeys in the wild and wondered how bad they could be distressed. Between June 23 and October 23 Stanley viewed about 70 videos in the private Facebook group. He said he stopped after watching an extremely bad video.

Mr Taylor said the custodial threshold had been passed because of the extreme pain and suffering depicted in the material. He added: "Without defendants like this the trade would not continue."

The defendant, appeared before Liverpool Magistrates' Court in August where he pleaded guilty to three counts of publishing an obscene article showing animal torture. During mitigation by defence counsel Mr Lander Wednesday morning, it was said the defendant, who had once worked at a solicitors' firm, was previously "full of integrity" but now was full of remorse and regret.

Speaking of Stanley, who has since not only lost his job but has experienced the breakdown of his relationship, the defence barrister said: "I do not seek to minimise his behaviour. The descriptions speak for themselves. He told police he didn't know why he got into this...This isn't someone who carried on offending until his arrest, he stopped months before."

Mr Lander added: "He did what he accepts is a stupid thing for a few weeks when he was part of the group. He stopped when he realised the error of his ways. He never thought he would get the fateful knock on the door."

Sentencing, His Honour Judge Ian Harris told the defendant: "These offences are utterly repellent and have no place in a civilised society. You were a volunteer, not a conscript."

Judge Harris told the defendant that an immediate custodial sentence was "unavoidable" and sentenced him to 20 months' imprisonment. He also issued destruction of Stanley's mobile phone and the statutory surcharge.

Speaking after the sentencing, Ms Kite said: "We are very grateful to Merseyside Police for taking this action against the posting of monkey torture videos on Facebook. 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 sincerely hope this prosecution and punishment will act as an important deterrent to others. 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."

Thomas Quirk, senior crown prosecutor of Mersey-Cheshire Crown Prosecution Service, said: "The videos that Peter Stanley posted onto his page on the Facebook site are truly horrific. 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.

"Why anyone could possibly want to be involved in this sort of thing is impossible to understand. Peter Stanley was publishing videos of animals being brutally injured apparently for pleasure. His actions are against the law, and he is now facing the consequences.

"The Crown Prosecution Service would like to thank the witnesses in this case and Merseyside Police for their help in bringing this dreadful case to a successful conclusion. Behind each of these images there were defenceless animals being abused. Peter Stanley presumably thought he was going to get away with this. How wrong he was."

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