Two cruel cockfighters are to be sentenced for a string of animal welfare charges after they posted videos bragging about the barbaric blood sport on Facebook.

Bill Ripley and Moses Brinkley, both of Claywood Lane, Bean, uploaded graphic videos filmed on a travellers' site in Bean online.

Ripley, 45, and 61-year-old Brinkley appeared at Bexleyheath Magistrates' Court this week charged with nine and seven offences respectively under the Animal Welfare Act.

Warning: graphic images and video below

The pair were investigated by the RSPCA’s special operations unit after graphic videos showing bloodied birds fighting aggressively were posted on Facebook.

Clips from the footage can be viewed below, but we have taken the decision not to run it in its entirety due to its upsetting nature.

Brinkley admitted three of five offences of being present at an animal fight, one offence of keeping a premises for use in an animal fight and one offence of keeping animals for use in fighting.

Ripley admitted three of six offences of being present at an animal fight, one offence of keeping a premises for use in an animal fight and one offence of keeping animals for use in fighting. He denied possessing spurs and muffs - both aids used in training or fighting cockerels.

The men will appear at the same court for sentencing on March 19.

The RSPCA launched an investigation into the men after material was spotted on Facebook relating to an account in the name of ‘Shamo Bill’, believed to be Bill Ripley.

The material posted on this account suggested he was breeding, keeping, selling and fighting cockerels.

RSPCA inspector Carroll Lamport, who led the investigation, said: “We joined police officers as they executed warrants at three plots on a travellers’ site in Bean, Kent, where we were able to identify some of the ‘venues’ shown online in the fighting videos.

“We downloaded a lot of evidence from Facebook while other videos were also found on mobile phones seized from the men during the warrants. The videos - some posted by ‘Shamo Bill’ online - show a number of different cockfights taking place at different venues including a makeshift pit next to a caravan. The men are clearly bragging about their pastime and their birds.

“In the videos you can hear voices saying: 'The Ripley way' and 'Let me show you my little brother'.

“Other videos appear to show training techniques with cockerels being encouraged to attack dummy birds.”

When officers executed the warrants they found 242 cockerels at the site. One hen, which was found with a nasty neck injury, was removed and rehomed by the charity.

Mobile phones seized from the site were forensically examined, uncovering many messages discussing breeding and fighting cockerels.

Insp Lamport added: “One video, removed from a mobile phone, shows a fight which lasts 10 minutes. The birds are seen sparring, flapping aggressively at each other and pecking at their opponent.

“They pull out mouthfuls of feathers and peck with their sharp beaks around the other bird’s eyes.

“It’s extremely brutal and barbaric watching. The birds are both panting, obviously exhausted, while the white-coloured cockerel is soaked in blood and the red bird repeatedly collapses following the intense and prolonged fight.

“Eight minutes and 30 seconds in, when one of the birds collapses, the man recording the video intervenes to part the birds so they can launch into the fight once again. He can be heard encouraging the bird to kill the other, saying: ‘You gotta do the job proper Mosquito, don’t leave him’.

“The red-coloured bird is then dragged out of the shot leaving the white cockerel as the winner as you hear multiple other birds crowing in the background.”

It’s not clear, from the video evidence, what happened to the birds following the fight and whether either of them succumbed to their injuries.