A PET monkey left disabled after nine years locked in a tiny cage by a Hampstead conwoman has found love in a new life at a wildlife sanctuary.

Animal welfare campaigner Angela Humphery walked past the house of neighbour Juliette D'Souza for years without knowing that she was a bogus "witch-doctor" who had imprisoned a black-capped Capuchin without fresh air, exercise or company for nearly a decade. 

After her conviction and 10-year jail sentence on fraud charges, it can now be revealed that Joey was rescued from a house in Willoughby Road in 2008 by the RSPCA and taken to the Monkey Sanctuary in Cornwall.

He was left permanently deformed with a serious metabolic bone disease that affects his spine, jaw and teeth, and a psychological fear of open spaces.

Joey, as he was found by the RSPCA, locked in a cage by conwoman Juliette D'Souza

Mrs Humphery, 82, who supports 60 animal rights charities and has raised up to £50,000 for them in the last few years, told the New Journal that she and her husband Martin tracked Joey down to “apologise to my erstwhile neighbour” and to offer to adopt him and sponsor his care every year. 

Mrs Humphery, who is looking for a publisher for her book, Memoirs of a Party Animal – Seven Decades in Animal Welfare, which is dedicated to Joey, said he was another “victim” who had “suffered terribly” at the hands of D'Souza. 

D'Souza, 59, later of Perrins Lane, was sentenced at Blackfriars Crown Court on Friday after being convicted of duping £1million out of 11 victims who believed she was a "shaman" with magical powers. 

Although he will remain permanently disabled, Joey has largely recovered. He has also been adopted by comedian and actor Stephen Fry and found a girlfriend, Mrs Humphery said. 

“He's doing so well, it's like sex for the disabled every day,” she said. 

“We went down to visit him when we found out about him, the poor little sod. We had no idea he was there all this time. He is permanently disabled from lack of sunlight and a poor diet and no space to move. His tongue permanently hangs out. In the last two years before he was rescued he was left in solitary isolation with only the company of the television for hours on end.”

Joey was brought over to England as a tiny baby after D'Souza bought him in a market in Suriname, South America, in 1998.

During D'Souza's five-week trial the court heard from Keith Bender, one of D'Souza's victims, how he would go to the house to feed Joey whilst D'Souza was away in Suriname and the monkey, starved of affection, would cuddle up on his lap.

Mrs Humphery said that Joey was one of 3,000 legally kept pet monkeys living caged in the UK and that she was campaigning to help change the law. 

She said: “I was born fascinated by animals. My mother used to tell me I would nearly fall out of my pram trying to stroke dogs and cats. I am going to donate an extra £1,000 to the sanctuary and I would encourage others to do the same.”

www.monkeysanctuary.org or www.wildfutures.org.