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Case #583 Rating: 2.3 out of 5
Animals tortured for "crush fetish" video
Trent, EN (UK)Incident Date: Tuesday, May 7, 2002
Disposition: Convicted
Defendants/Suspects:
» Craig Chapman
» Christine Besford
» Sarah Cooke
» Tharaza Smallwood
Four people who made videos of small animals being tortured and killed have been jailed. The gang tortured mice, a guinea pig and a kitten in a "cruelly terrifying" nature in order to make the obscene video tapes.
Craig Chapman, 27, Christine Besford, 26, Sarah Cooke, 22, and Tharaza Smallwood, 22, all pleaded guilty on May 7 to conspiracy to publish obscene material.
All four also admitted separate charges relating to the cruelty and torture of small animals. Peter Cooper, prosecuting, told Stoke on Trent Crown Court how Chapman had told someone he met over the internet that he could supply videos depicting scenes of animal torture.
Describing the horrific scenes on the tape Mr Cooper said: "Throughout the film there are scenes of small animals being stamped on with high heeled shoes. He said the worst scenes on the tape showed the killing of a kitten, which had its hind leg glued to a wooden board.
Besford, Cooke and Smallwood were paid between �100 and �700 each for taking part in the torture.
Chapman, of Ironbridge Drive, Newcastle-under-Lyme, was sentenced to two years imprisonment for conspiracy to publish the video and four months for cruelty to a guinea pig and cruelty to a kitten, to run concurrently.
Besford, of Heaton Terrace, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Cooke, of Woodgate Street, Meir, Stoke-on-Trent, and Smallwood, of Wileman Street, Fenton, Stoke, were each jailed for four months for conspiracy to publish obscene material and for cruelly terrifying animals, to run concurrently.
Guilty pleas
The defendants bought the mice and guinea pigs from a pet store and the kitten was bought from an advert in a local newspaper, Mr Cooper told Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court.
The four all pleaded guilty on 7 May to conspiracy to publish obscene material and also admitted separate charges relating to the cruelty and torture of small animals.
Jailing the four on Tuesday, Judge Granville Styler said: "The case involves the torturing of small animals.
"Besford, Cooke and Smallwood crushed these animals to death but during the sick film Chapman can be heard giving instructions to the co-accused.
"I accept that Besford, Cooke and Smallwood were not the instigators of this but they subjected the animals to most abject cruelty.
"I take the view that these matters are so serious that I have no other choice but to jail you all."
For more information on crush fetish videos, see: The Zero
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