A man from Abbey Wood has been jailed after a court heard he played a leading role in an international online network that shared animal cruelty videos.
Bartosz Poklek, 30, of Hartslock Drive, was sentenced to three years and three months at Woolwich Crown Court on Friday 9 October. Judge Christopher Grout imposed the sentence after Poklek admitted running a large-scale operation over a period running from June 2023 to September 2025.
What the court heard
The court heard Poklek was a controlling figure in online chat groups linked to the network. Prosecutor Alex Kettle-Williams said he used the online initials “BP”, ran a group under that name, prepared scripts for videos, gave directions about what should happen in them and distributed thousands of videos and images.
The hearing was told the material was shared internationally, with individual videos changing hands for up to 500 dollars. Poklek also pleaded guilty to publishing obscene videos for gain, possession of indecent images of children and possession of ketamine.
Investigation in the UK and the US
The case followed work involving the National Wildlife Crime Unit, the Metropolitan Police and West Mercia Police, alongside US Homeland Security Investigations and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
Adeolu Odusote, of the Crown Prosecution Service, described Poklek as a key part of a trade that encouraged cruelty, thanked domestic and international partners for their work, and said that work had helped build the prosecution case that led to the guilty pleas.
Judge calls for a review of the maximum sentence
The court heard Poklek will be released after serving around a third of his sentence. Judge Grout also urged Parliament to consider whether the current five-year maximum for animal cruelty is sufficient, saying: “If ever there was a case that demonstrates that the statutory maximum for animal cruelty is too low, this is it”.
For the defence, Alexia Nicol said Poklek found it difficult to explain how he became involved. She said he had been seeking online status rather than money, and described a period of isolation and drug use in which clear boundaries had been lost.
Why the case matters beyond Abbey Wood
The first point this case underlines is how quickly harmful material can move across borders online. The court heard that interest in material on mainstream platforms can lead people towards closed groups on other services, where content is harder to see and harder to stop. That journey, from public posts to private chats, was central to how this network was described in court.
The second point is about sentencing. Poklek received three years and three months, below the five-year maximum the judge questioned. Sentencing remarks of this kind do not change the law on their own, but they put a clear marker down for Parliament and for future cases. London Streets has reported on other sentencings at the same court, including a former soldier jailed after a ULEZ camera explosion in Sidcup.
Abbey Wood sits within the Royal Borough of Greenwich, close to Thamesmead, Plumstead and Woolwich. Cases from this part of south-east London are regularly heard at Woolwich Crown Court, including a man charged after a stabbing in Herbert Road, Woolwich, and a Plumstead man charged following an incident in Plumstead High Street.
Anyone who comes across suspected animal cruelty content online should avoid sharing it further and should report it to the platform and to the police. Poklek, of Hartslock Drive in Abbey Wood, will now begin his prison sentence.
