The depraved online messages that helped snare the monkey torturers: How network of
Sick and twisted messages from a sadistic global monkey torture network asked people to ‘be creative’ for ‘brutal vids’ with one saying: ‘I wanna see pain, shock, pain, acceptance of fate.’
The sordid exchanges on WhatsApp and Telegram saw ‘monkey haters’ share their vile fantasies of forced feeding, using power tools and even placing the animals in jars of acid.
They would run depraved polls on how they wanted monkeys to be brutally tortured where in one it asked whether they wanted either a hammer, pliers, or a screwdriver to be used.
Within hours a grotesque video would appear with their chosen desire.
Hundreds of people would trade extreme torture ideas, with the goal of creating bespoke videos which were then sold, sometimes for as little as £10.
One of those groups was on Telegram called Ape’s Cage which was uncovered by a year-long BBC investigation.
It contained 400 members which included a US Air Force airman and a grandmother from Alabama.
The pair were brought to justice following investigations by animal rights campaigners and the makers of a shocking BBC documentary called The Monkey Haters
Sick and twisted messages from a sadistic global monkey torture network asked people to ‘be creative’ for ‘brutal vids’ with one saying: ‘I wanna see pain, shock, pain, acceptance of fate’. Pictured is some a mock up of some of the messages uncovered by a year-long BBC investigation
Briton Holly LeGresley, 37, revelled under her moniker ‘The Immolator’ where she effectively acted as an ‘archivist’ for the group
LeGresley pictured here wearing a T-shirt with an image of dog-hating character Cruella de Vil. The group she was part of commissioned videos of monkeys being set on fire
Ran by ‘Mr Ape’, he would boast about having 3,500 clips in his repulsive collection saying: ‘The only good smell coming from a monkey is gasoline.’
The baby monkey at the centre of their vulgar fantasies was Mini who would become a celebrity in their warped world.
‘I’m literally feeding off its fear right now,’ one said as Mr Ape replied: ‘Lmao you can tell this monkey has really been through some s**t.’
When the videos of Mini stopped appearing they speculated on whether she was dead.
One member under the name of ‘Freddy’s Finger’ perversely pleaded to ‘see mini’s corpse right now’.
Mini was eventually freed from her abuser and after two years in a rehabilitation sanctuary was this month released into the Indonesian forest.
But amongst the twisted group’s cruellest contributors was bird-loving 37-year-old Brit Holly LeGresley who was yesterday jailed for two years for her harrowing sadism.
Pet-owning grandmother Adriana Orme, 56, was also jailed yesterday for 15 months for her part in the online chatroom.
They followed law firm worker Peter Stanley, 42, who last month became the first Briton to be jailed over sharing the vile clips.
LeGresley (left) and Orme (right) were both jailed yesterday for their harrowing sadism in sharing monkey torture videos
One sickening group named Ape’s Cage was run by ‘Mr Ape’ who would boast about having thousands of vile videos
Holly LeGresley is heckled by protestors as she arrives at Worcester Crown Court for sentencing
LeGresley was surrounded by protestors as she arrived for her sentencing
Adriana Orme, 56, from Upton-upon-Severn, arriving at a previous hearing. She was jailed for 15 months
Adriana Orme arrives at Worcester Crown Court for her sentencing
He was put behind bars for 20 months after police uncovered that he was a member of a grotesque private Facebook group called ‘Monkey Sauce’ where people were encouraged to view and post their own disturbing videos.
As for LeGresley, she revelled in her leading role as moniker ‘The Immolator’ which a judge said ‘indicated a desire to maim or torture’.
She effectively acted as an ‘archivist’, offering to help catalogue a user’s collection.
LeGresley would try and invite others into her torture world telling them ‘it’s basically everyone I like in one place for monkey hate, content and chat’.
The BBC’s investigation into the torture network in 2022 revealed a chain of participants around the globe who would ‘commission’ people living in Thailand or Indonesia to film monkeys being tortured to later be shared online.
BBC journalists went undercover in one of the main Telegram torture groups after the charity Action for Primates discovered people were paying to buy monkeys in Indonesia to be tortured.
Worcester Crown Court heard the two women, both from Worcestershire, were participants in online chatrooms were abuse was discussed.
LeGresley, who had researched where she could buy a monkey in the UK, offered to help catalogue a user’s collection.
Judge James Burbidge told the pair: ‘You promoted the physical torture of monkeys by others, you shared videos and images of such torture and abuse, retained images and videos for what appeared to be your own pleasure and amusement..’
He said ‘socially awkward’ Orme’s involvement in the network began with her wanting to stop ‘this outrageous behaviour’ but said she then ‘got a taste for it’.
And he told LeGresley she had ’caused significant pain, torture and death to the monkeys in Indonesia’.
The gore-obsessed woman – who lives with her parents – previously described Hannibal Lecter, a serial killer who eats his victims, and Pennywise, the clown from IT who preys on children, as her ‘horror icons’.
But other posts on social media showed her cradling and cuddling cockatiels or holding a tarantula.
The torture network shared 61 folders with approximately 3,000 images and videos, the court heard.
LeGresley sobbed in the dock as the court heard how she planned to create videos showing severe injuries to monkeys.
She expressed a desire for a baby monkey to undergo severe trauma, and also for one monkey to watch another animal die.
She also ordered a whip-round for one member who had funded videos, writing: ‘She’s done so much… delivering one of the best videos we’ve seen for a long time.’
The judge was read a catalogue of monkey torture methods which included attacks with scissors. One monkey died after being tortured for around 10 minutes.
Former motorcycle gang member and Donald Trump supporter Michael Mccartney was one of the ringleaders. He was last month jailed in the US state of Virginia for three years for his role in setting up one of the barbaric networks
A year-long investigation by the BBC found that hundreds had been paying Indonesians to torture and kill infant long-tailed macaques on video
A horrific video shows baby monkeys dressed up in human clothing while trapped in cages
M Ajis Rasjana (pictured) was sentenced to eight months in prison in Indonesia – the maximum available for animal torture
The recent charges have left the abusers warning their co-conspirators to watch out that the authorities are after them
The court heard Orme, who attended court with her husband, was known as Noelle in the online chatrooms.
The unravelling of the macabre world began during the coronavirus pandemic.
It started on YouTube when former adult dancer Lucy Kapetanich began watching cute animal videos from her small bedroom in Los Angeles.
She was using them as a way to wind down after spending long hours hosting webcam shows.
But with each click, the algorithm slowly started shifting her towards cruel and sickening videos of monkeys being beaten, attacked with drills and doused in acid.
What she at first hadn’t realised was that she had unwittingly uncovered a global underworld torture network for the sadistic and twisted self-proclaimed ‘monkey haters’.
The horrifying clips brought Kaetanich to tears but with the help of an animal rights group, the dark and sordid world began to unravel.
Its ringleader? Former motorcycle gang member and Donald Trump supporter Michael Mccartney who last month was jailed in the US state of Virginia for three years for his role in setting up one of the barbaric networks.
The tattooed 50-year-old revelled in his role as ‘The Torture King’ and ran most of the high-profile torture groups.
‘I was the man. You want to see monkeys get messed up? I could bring it to you,’ he boasted.
By the time the FBI had caught up with him the network was based on the encrypted messaging app Telegram where animal abusers would detail their vile torture fantasies.
‘Pull its teeth out,’ urged one group member as they clubbed together to raise $200 to torture it. Another added: ‘I think we should hammer its hands and feet flat.’
Mccartney was jailed for three years and four months.
So far nine key ring leaders within the monkey torture network have pleaded guilty or been sentenced in America.