Two brothers filmed themselves torturing and mutilating animals in series of ‘sadistic’ videos
TWO brothers filmed themselves torturing and mutilating animals in sadistic videos.
Kristen and Todd Cooper were described as showing “cruelty beyond comprehension” in attacks on deer and a hare.
A vet said it was the worst case of animal abuse he had seen in his 24-year career.
He added: “These images will stay with me forever.”
The brothers carried out their attacks in the New Forest National Park in 2021 and 2022.
They were caught after police seized Kristen’s phone.
Kristen, 24, admitted seven offences of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal, while Todd, 29, admitted one.
Both were also sentenced at Southampton crown court for assault and weapons offences.
Judge Peter Henry sentenced the pair for a variety of offences committed in the New Forest and in Dorset, including actual bodily harm, criminal damage and threatening a person with an offensive weapon.
He said: “One would have thought that both of you being brought up in the New Forest you would have had more respect for such defenceless creatures.
“It was being filmed, other people were present and other people seemed to find it all very amusing.”
Kristen, of Bransgore, was jailed for five years.
Todd, of Lymington, got three years, eight months.