The wife of disgraced dog rapist Adam Britton has fled Australia and changed her name, according to reports.
Erin Britton has dumped her crocodile expert husband, who has admitted to raping, torturing and murdering dogs, Daily Mail reports.
Erin has gone on a six-month safari to escape the spotlight after her husband’s shocking crimes were made public.
A worker who worked on the couple’s property McMinns Lagoon, where they kept crocodiles, said: “Will she be back?
“That’s very doubtful.
“She’s ended the marriage and gone, although given the shocking behavior of her husband she will be living in fear of being recognized wherever she ends up living.”
Local hotel worker Amy Moore, who lives in nearby town Humpty Doo, said she felt sorry for Erin who had no knowledge of her husband’s crimes.
“It seems she’s just up and left him — and can you blame her when you learn about all the terrible things he’s confessed to at an earlier court appearance.
“The word around these parts is that when Erin learned what her husband had got up to she fled — just packed up and left.
“She’s gone far away, going on a safari somewhere, but how she’s ever going to get over this can’t be imagined.
“They kept themselves pretty much to themselves unless they were doing business with film companies or conservationists such as David Attenborough.
“No-one I’ve spoken to can recall seeing them out and about such as having a meal in one of the local taverns together.
“We locals have loved living here — it’s a real exotic place and now this person has travelled across the world from England a few years ago and tainted all our lives by doing what he did to those poor animals just down the road from us.”
Britton pleaded guilty to 60 charges, including the torture, rape, and killing of at least 39 dogs at Northern Territory Supreme Court on Monday.
The court heard how he referred to the animals as “f—k toys”, raped puppies and operated a nightmarish “torture room” at his home, half an hour outside Darwin.
He also sexually abused his own Swiss Shepherd pets, Ursa and Bolt, for nearly a decade before seeking more dogs to harm on Gumtree.
Just two years ago, he was a renowned researcher at Charles Darwin University, known for his work in crocodile conservation with Erin, who was also his business partner.
The couple worked with film companies, providing footage of crocodiles and once hosted David Attenborough who was filming a sequence for the BBC BAFTA-winning series Life in Cold Blood.
Britton used Telegram accounts to engage with like-minded individuals and share images and recordings of his animal abuse and to discuss his “kill count”.
“I had repressed it. In the last few years I let it out again, and now I can’t stop. I don’t want to,” Britton had told an anonymous Telegram user.
Britton and Erin were featured in interviews about their research on ABC News and Triple J’s Hack.
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The couple filmed themselves feeding a freshwater crocodile on their property during a COVID-19 lockdown in 2020.
“Hello everyone, Adam here. Well, we’re at home at the moment and we’ve got to feed the crocodiles,” Britton said in the video with his wife.
“So what I’m going to do is, I’m going to hand this camera to Erin – say ‘hi’, Erin.”
Originally from England, Britton obtained his Ph.D. in Zoology at the University of Bristol before moving to Australia in 1996 to study crocodiles.
Britton was known for self-promotion, frequently updating his social media profiles with photos of his crocodiles and media appearances.
The court noted a disturbing Facebook post in which Britton celebrated his Swiss Shepherd’s first birthday in 2016, while he had been abusing his own dogs since 2014.
During a raid of his home last year, the police seized computers, mobile phones, cameras, external hard drives, tools, weapons.
Chief Justice Michael Grant described Britton‘s actions as “acts that could only be described as grotesque cruelty which are both confronting and distressing” and that the details of the case could cause psychological harm to those exposed to them.
Britton’s name was initially suppressed by the courts but the order was lifted after he pleaded guilty.
His sentencing submissions are scheduled for December 13.