EXCLUSIVE
The devastated partner of a man accused of being one of New South Wales’ worst animal abusers has broken down as he recalls how his boyfriend’s alleged double life took him by surprise.
Mick Mepham was at his home in Moorland, near Taree, on Tuesday when a team of police and RSPCA inspectors stormed the rural property at around 7.30am and arrested his partner, Colin Baker, 38.
Police will allege that Baker, who uses the online pseudonym ‘Beast Boy’, used encrypted messaging apps to share beastly material featuring dogs, sheep, goats, chickens and a dead kangaroo.
He is also accused of possessing child abuse material and using a transportation service to access and solicit child abuse material, with more charges expected to be filed.
Fighting back tears, Mepham said he was “shocked and confused” when he first learned of the allegations from officers who took him aside to speak with him while they arrested Baker.
Colin Baker’s partner Mick Mepham (pictured) said he was horrified to hear of the allegations against his boyfriend.
Colin Baker, 38 (pictured), is accused of being one of the worst animal exploitation producers in New South Wales.
‘What the fuck? How can someone (supposedly) do that?’ she told WhatsNew2Day Australia outside the couple’s home on Wednesday.
“It’s beyond comprehension… Then to hear that it (supposedly) happened in my own damn house,” he said, angrily slamming his fist on the side of the front door.
“I keep asking myself, ‘How did I not know?’ (I was supposedly committing those crimes).
“You can never really know someone.”
During the raid, authorities seized several items from the property, including computers, hard drives and Mepham’s beloved seven-year-old dog, Loppy.
For Mepham, the most devastating part of the situation has been learning from police officers that her partner had allegedly been sexually abusing her behind her back and was then taken away by the RSPCA.
‘I love that dog so much. “She’s my little rock,” she said, her eyes filling with tears. “I called her Loppy because she rests her head on your shoulder when you pick her up.
Baker is pictured being arrested by police officers on Tuesday.
In the photo, Loppy is being removed from the property by RSPCA officers.
‘She was a rescue. I took her in about three years ago. That dog has already been through a lot.
“The hardest part is that she didn’t trust anyone when I first got her and it was six months before she trusted me… And to think…” he said, stopping and shaking his head.
“I just want her home.”
Mepham said he met Baker, originally from Texas in southern Queensland, on Grindr three years ago while the couple lived in Binnaway, central western New South Wales.
After being forced to move from their last property when the owner sold it, the couple struggled to find another place to rent and made the decision to move 478km east of Moorland on the New South Wales midcoast.
While Mepham got a job at a local furniture store, he said Baker was unemployed and “couldn’t get him to work.”
Instead, Baker stayed home on his computers all day with the couple’s two pets: Mepham’s dog, Loppy, and Baker’s dog, Jake, who died three months ago from cancer.
Mepham, who is about 15 years older than Baker, said he was “digitally illiterate” and did not pay attention to Baker’s activity on the multiple computer screens the accused animal abuser had set up in his home.
He said the couple had a loving relationship and there were never any signs that anything was wrong.
Aside from her two dogs, Mepham said there were no other farm animals on her property and she has no idea where her partner allegedly accessed the other animals he allegedly abused.
Baker had a profile on a gay porn platform. The photo above is one of the photos used on her account.
Mepham said his partner’s alleged double life took him completely by surprise.
Mepham said he has been angry with himself as he struggles to come to terms with how Baker could allegedly have been committing such vile acts right under his nose without him realizing it.
‘I love animals. I consider myself an animal activist. There are sometimes snakes on the property. I always trap them safely and relocate them.’
Mepham said Baker called him from jail yesterday to ask if he could call his mother for him.
During the conversation, Baker said that “there is a lot more to the situation” than Mepham knows and that he will “always love me.”
He said it was difficult to reconcile the person he loved and the person who allegedly committed such horrible acts.
Mepham spent the last night in a hotel to escape her home as she continues to process the rollercoaster of emotions over the traumatic last 24 hours.
Now, he’s struggling to understand the logistics of his new life, with the couple’s car and WiFi registered to Baker.
Police will allege Baker abused dogs inside his Moorland home (pictured)
A dilapidated shed that sits next to the rural property.
But the most important thing is that he just wants to get Loppy back, who has been told that he has been taken to Newcastle and will not be able to return for six months.
‘Now I have to pay $25 a day for her while I’m there. I don’t know how I’m going to do that,’ she said.
“I feel like a fish out of water right now. It’s like someone died and is chasing me… except they’re not dead.
WhatsNew2Day Australia can also reveal that Baker had profiles on a gay pornography website, with photos of him dressed in leather thongs and posing naked with a teddy bear in front of his genitals.
In one online bio, she wrote: “Just contact me,” while another says “I need a hot fuck.”
Court documents obtained by WhatsNew2Day Australia reveal police will allege Baker sexually abused several animals and filmed the acts in Moorland between 2020 and 2024.
On three separate occasions in 2020, he allegedly had sex with a chicken, a ram and a dead kangaroo, and filmed the act with the marsupial.
Over the next two years, his attention was allegedly focused on abusing a large brown dog, which WhatsNew2Day Australia understands to be Jake.
The couple moved into the rural rental property about two and a half years ago.
During that period, he allegedly had the dog sodomize him while recording the act before distributing the exploitative material online. Police will allege that the process occurred twice in August 2022.
Police will further allege that he also distributed those videos again in early 2023 to people online.
However, many of the alleged crimes took place over the past two months.
Police will allege he raped Loppy on March 15, before raping a Golden Retriever the following day.
During that same period, police will allege he accessed child abuse material, including 7 photographs and 27 videos, including one showing young boys being sexually abused by men.
364 files of child abuse material were also allegedly found on a hard drive seized from his home on Tuesday.
Baker appeared at Taree Local Court on Tuesday where he was refused bail.
His next court appearance will be July 8.
As police investigations continue, under Strike Force Trawler, anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.
