Brothers jailed for recording themselves torturing poor animals in sadistic attacks
Two brothers who filmed themselves torturing animals have been jailed for what one police officer described as some of the “most horrifying offences” he had ever seen, as reported by The Independent. Furthermore, a vet called the videos the “worst case of animal cruelty” they had seen in 24 years in the profession, Sky News wrote. What in the Don’t F**ck with Cats hell?
Siblings Kristen Cooper, 24, and Todd Cooper, 29, were sentenced to jail for assault, animal cruelty and possession of offensive weapons. They were found with several videos showing the pair “causing unnecessary suffering to animals, mainly in rural areas at night,” police said.
The films showed Kristen, from Bransgore, causing suffering to injured deer and hares and sometimes encouraging dogs to attack them in New Forest National Park, an area of southern England.
There were also videos showing deers with injuries to their genitals suggesting they had been mutilated.
Todd Cooper admitted carrying out an act of animal cruelty that involved his brother holding down a deer while he struck it over the head with a blunt object. Kristen Cooper pleaded guilty to seven offences of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal, and was disqualified from owning a dog for ten years.
Kristen was sentenced to two years in prison in relation to these charges, while Todd was sentenced to eight months behind bars.
Police constable Sebastian Haggett, of Dorset Police’s Rural Crime Team, said: “Cooper repeatedly subjected animals to horrific levels of pain and suffering, seemingly for his own and others’ amusement. These are without doubt some of the most horrifying offences I have ever investigated.”
Inspector Darren Ord, from Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary said: “These horrific crimes have caused a great deal of harm and suffering, and we are pleased that these crimes have been recognised with this sentencing and the offenders have been brought to justice.”
He went on to add: “We take reports of rural crime extremely seriously and our officers will continue to work with partners to show criminals that offences of this kind will not be tolerated in Hampshire, or across our borders.”
During their trial in August 2023 for assault and weapons offences, the court heard how the brothers, along with an accomplice, chased a man into a shop, pushed him to the floor and fired a catapult his way.
There were no resulting injuries from the incident, but the trio fled the scene. On the evening of the same day, the brothers rammed an SUV into the back of a Vauxhall Astra—pushing it into a parked car—then vandalised the vehicle using a crowbar, baseball bat and a ball bearing fired from a catapult.
They were found guilty of two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, two counts of making threats to cause injury with offensive weapons and one count of criminal damage—and each jailed for three years in relation to these offences.
This means that the brothers have now been jailed for a total of eight years and eight months—with Kristen being jailed for five years, and Todd being jailed for three years and eight months. Both men will serve at least half of their sentence before being eligible for release on licence.
