Two women have been jailed for their part in a monkey torture ring and behavior described by the judge as “depraved, sickening and evil”.

Adriana Orme, 56, from Upton upon Severn, and Holly Le Gresley, 37, from Kidderminster, previously admitted being part of the global network.

Worcester Crown Court heard graphic details of the suffering experienced by young macaques in Indonesia, with the images sold to people around the world.

Le Gresley, who the judge said played a “leading role”, was jailed for two years, while Orme was jailed for 15 months.

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More than 130 videos and 22 images were uploaded by Le Gresley, who the court heard had been an archivist, who cataloged and distributed some of the footage.

She also made a payment into a PayPal account to encourage cruelty.

Orme, meanwhile, pleaded guilty to publishing an obscene article by uploading one image and 26 videos of monkey torture, and to encouraging or assisting unnecessary suffering by making a payment of £10 to a PayPal account.

The female roles then came to light a BBC investigation into the network that started on YouTube, before moving to private groups on the messaging app Telegram.

The online group paid for baby long-tailed macaque monkeys to be taken from their mothers and then tortured and killed.

The members even voted on the proposed methods.

Before the hearing, a protest took place outside the court and animal rights activists were allowed into the gallery.

Judge James Burbidge KC jailed the women and described their behavior as “deplorable, abhorrent and sadistic”.

He said their offenses went against all sense of compassion and were “beyond comprehension for most of society”.

“You promoted the physical torture of monkeys by others, you shared videos and images of such torture and abuse, you kept images and videos for what appeared to be your own pleasure and entertainment,” he said.

He told Le Gresley that she had caused “considerable pain, torture and death among the monkeys in Indonesia”.

In total, police recovered thousands of files from 20 devices owned by the women during a year-long investigation.

After the conviction, West Mercia Police described the case as a historic one.

Det Ch Insp Ben Arrowsmith said it was the first time in British legal history that “charges relating to animal cruelty have been brought for crimes that occurred abroad where the perpetrators are in Britain”.

“The hatred and deviant fascination that the defendants have shown regarding the cruelty and abuse towards monkeys is incomprehensible,” he said.

“The suffering the animals endured is sickening and sadistic; it is impossible to understand how anyone could find it pleasurable.”

Police said both women had viewed the videos, expressed joy at the images and regularly shared material.

Ch Insp Kevin Lacks-Kelly, head of the national wildlife crime unit, said it was the worst cruelty he had ever seen.

Despite this being the latest in a series of high-profile criminal cases, he said the “transnational investigation” into the global network was still ongoing.

In mitigation, Tom Walkling, representing Le Gresley, said she lived with the knowledge of how she had behaved, had a long history of depression and anxiety and was “likely to be diagnosed with autism”.

The court also heard that Le Gresley now believed she had post-traumatic stress disorder, from the videos.

Curtis Myrie, representing Orme, said she had several physical illnesses and described her as “a loving mother and grandmother.”

The court also heard how the pre-trial reports acknowledged how well she had cared for her rescue dog Diesel.

However, the judge disputed several of the defense teams’ claims and rejected their calls for suspended sentences.

He also referred to Le Gresley’s knowledge of the jail time she could face if caught, based on comments police found in a chat.

After the hearing, Sarah Kite from Action for Primates, who gave evidence, said: “The complete lack of empathy shown by both women for the terror and suffering of the monkeys, some of whom were only a few days old, is so disturbing.

“To pay for someone who commits such violence is beyond our understanding.”

US-based animal rights group Lady Freethinker, which also helped uncover the global network, said the “horrors inflicted on innocent baby monkeys for online videos are sickening”.