Man jailed for posting videos of baby monkeys being tortured

A man has been jailed for 20 months for posting videos of baby monkeys being tortured.

Peter Stanley, 42, of Dovecot Avenue, Dovecot, Liverpool pleaded guilty to three counts of publishing an obscene article at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court on 20 August 2024.

The videos, showing the torture of baby long-tailed macaque monkeys, were spotted by on a private Facebook site linked to the intentional harm of the animals. The group has since been shut down.

The person who spotted the videos was part of an animal protection group that join sites to highlight what is being done and report it to the police.

Screenshots of Stanley’s page provided to police showed him posting the videos and making comments that made it clear he knew what was displayed in the clips. One of his comments was: “A fave of mine this one”.

Stanley’s Facebook user ID was provided to police and he was traced. His house was searched and his seized mobile phone revealed 75 videos of monkeys being tortured. One of the videos was confirmed as the one that was posted on Stanley’s Facebook page.

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”.

Stanley was arrested on 26 March 2024 and, during interview, said he had become aware of these videos and wanted to know just how bad they were.

To find out, he said he joined the Facebook group, and the rules of joining were that he had to post three videos to the group to show he was not going to report them.

He went on to say that he watched around 70 videos involving the torture of monkeys but decided in October 2023 this was not for him and stopped.

On 25 September 2024, Stanley was sentenced to 20 months' imprisonment at Liverpool Crown Court. 

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.”