** The ringleader of an international monkey torture ring and a teacher who took up-skirting photos of schoolgirls were among the criminals jailed in the UK in October 2026. The sentences, handed down last month, show the range of serious offences dealt with by courts across the country.

Monkey torture network run from Bexley

Bartosz Poklek, 30, from Bexley in south-east London, was sentenced to three years and three months in prison at Woolwich Crown Court on 9 October. He ran Telegram groups in which members paid for videos of monkeys, mostly baby long-tailed macaques, being tortured and killed in Indonesia and elsewhere in South East Asia. Poklek commissioned and scripted the videos and moved money to those who filmed the abuse. Police recovered more than 10,500 files from his equipment, including almost 3,000 videos.

Judge calls for tougher punishments

Judge Christopher Grout said he had never encountered such a horrific case of animal abuse in his career and that the five-year maximum sentence for animal cruelty offences was too low. Poklek also pleaded guilty to publishing an obscene article, making indecent photographs of a child and possessing a Class B drug.

Other October sentences

Abusali Rahman, a 37-year-old high school teacher, was jailed for six years at Bolton Crown Court for taking up-skirting photos of schoolgirls and using AI to alter them. Former Brookside actor Philip Foster, 51, was jailed for a further six months at Sheffield Crown Court for attempting to evade justice. Ashley Malcolm, 40, was jailed for 18 years for fatally attacking 86-year-old retired plumber John Burke in his Hackney home. [Source: Brit Brief](https://britbrief.co.uk/crime/courts/monkey-torture-ringleader-upskirting-teacher-among-uk-criminals-jailed.html) | [Source: 2KBW](https://2kbw.com/horrific-animal-torture-case-defendant-jailed/)