London man who led global monkey torture video network jailed for three years and three months

Mixed · 2Bartosz Poklek, 30, from Bexley in south-east London, was sentenced on Friday 9 October 2026 at Woolwich Crown Court to three years and three months in prison by Judge Christopher Grout. 1 2 Mixed · 2The court heard he played a leading role in a global online community of so-called "zoo sadists", the "monkey hate community", which commissioned, shared and sold videos of extreme cruelty to monkeys. 1 2 Centre · 1Prosecutors said he ran online chat groups, including one called "BP empire", styled himself "BP", distributed thousands of images and videos and wrote scripts and instructions for how monkeys should be abused and killed. Some footage sold for up to $500 (£370). 1

Mixed · 2Prosecutor Alex Kettle-Williams said police found thousands of videos, including a 39-minute video of a baby monkey plied with alcohol, set on fire and bound with zip ties, and a second, almost half-hour video of another baby monkey mutilated with scissors while clearly still alive. 1 2 Mixed · 2The court heard the abuse is taking place in south-east Asia, with macaque monkeys tortured on camera for online viewers. Judge Grout said recruits are drawn in by animal abuse material on YouTube, Facebook and TikTok, then invited to more secure platforms such as Discord and Telegram, and that some users paid to "adopt" a monkey to direct the torture. 1 2 Mixed · 2Investigators raised concern that monkeys dressed in bonnets and nappies and fed from baby bottles were being used as "proxy infants" by users interested in violent child abuse; the prosecutor said Poklek's possession of child abuse images mirrored cases against others involved in monkey torture worldwide. 1 2

Mixed · 2Poklek was caught after he tried to obtain court documents from a monkey torture criminal case in the US. The investigation involved the National Wildlife Crime Unit, the Metropolitan Police, West Mercia Police, US Homeland Security Investigations and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. 1 2 Mixed · 2He admitted running a "large-scale monkey torture ring" between June 2023 and September 2025, and pleaded guilty to publishing obscene videos for gain, possessing indecent images of children and possessing ketamine. 1 2 Mixed · 2Judge Grout said he had never encountered "such a horrific case of animal abuse" and that Poklek would be released after serving around a third of the sentence. He urged Parliament to consider tougher penalties, saying: "If ever there was a case that demonstrates that the statutory maximum for animal cruelty is too low, this is it." The current maximum is five years. 1 2

Mixed · 2Defence counsel Alexia Nicol said Poklek was seeking "kudos" as an organiser rather than money, and described him as isolated and using drugs, slipping into a world where boundaries "became less and less clear". Adeolu Odusote of the Crown Prosecution Service called him "a key cog in a vile trade". 1 2