Former glamour model Jodie Marsh has successfully applied for a primate licence at a rescue centre she runs – a year after winning a bitter legal battle over keeping lemurs there.
The ruling means the former lads’ mags favourite will be able to keep 12 marmosets at Fripps Farm in Lindsell, near Great Dunmow in Essex.
Marsh said she was ‘completely over the moon’ after Uttlesford District Council approved her application.
It came ahead of new rules protecting the welfare of primates under the Animal Welfare (Primate Licences) (England) Regulations 2024.
‘I knew we would get the licence because we’d done everything correctly,’ Marsh said.
‘With the new primate law coming into effect, many people won’t be able to keep their marmosets and thousands will need homes.
‘It is so crucial that those of us who can, do have a licence, so we can rescue more if needed.’
The animal lover added the new regulations introduced requirements that were ‘higher than zoo standards’, which could lead to small monkeys being abandoned or put down if owners are refused licences.
Jodie Marsh, 47, pictured at Fripps Farm, the animal sanctuary she runs in Lindsell, near Great Dunmow in Essex
Her primate licence is in place for two years - although the council revealed she doesn't have the lemurs at the sanctuary at present and she would have to apply for the a variation if they were kept there.
Marsh wept tears of joy when she won her appeal for a wild animals licence at Fripps Farm in June last year.
Uttlesford District Council blocked the application, which related to eight ring-tailed lemurs, after members claimed she treated the animals there as ‘pets’ following reports she had taken a baby meerkat and an owl to a pub. There were also concerns about noise.
But Marsh – who uses funds from OnlyFans to pay for the upkeep of more than 400 animals at the sanctuary including emus and reptiles – claimed she was the victim of criticism from online trolls.
She also said the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs had no concerns about animals in her care following inspections.
The 47-year-old, who trained as a bodybuilder and has appeared on Essex Wives and Celebrity Big Brother, broke down in tears as District Judge Christopher Williams ruled in her favour at Chelmsford Magistrates Court.
He said: ‘On the basis of the evidence available I am persuaded that the noise made by the lemurs is not a nuisance.
‘I am satisfied on the balance of probabilities that the decision by Uttlesford District Council was wrong and continues to be wrong. I allow the appeal.’
The ruling means the former lglamour model will be able to keep 12 marmosets at the site
Marsh won a bitter legal battle againt Uttlesford District Council last year to be allowed to keep eight ring-tailed lemurs
UDC councillor Richard Freeman had told a meeting of its licensing and environmental health committee: ‘The panel is concerned that Jodie Marsh has a perception that the animals in her care are personal pets.’
Video clips of screeching lemurs at a zoo were also played at a previous court hearing and the district council said Marsh had failed to provide a noise nuisance survey.
Ring-tailed lemurs live on ‘troops’ of up to 30 and are known as one of the most vocal primates.
But Paul Oakley, for Marsh, said the council’s ‘conclusion lemurs were likely to contribute to the (noise) impact’ at the five-acre site was ‘speculation’.
Marsh also dismissed concerns about her treatment of animals, explaining she had been ‘hand-rearing’ the meerkat when she took it to a friend’s pub ‘on a few occasions’.
Describing the sanctuary as a ‘dream’ she’d had since she was five years old, she rounded on the trolls, saying: ‘They lash out, they pick on you, as in my case.
‘When I was bodybuilding they trolled me for that, when I was modelling they trolled me for that, now it’s the animals.’
The council received 19 objections from local residents about the licence application.
The ex-lads' mags favourite, pictured in 2004 when she was voted among FHM's 100 Sexiest Women
Leaving Chelmsford Magistrates Court last week where she denied charges of assault and using threatening words or behaviour
But the court heard Essex Police, Essex Fire and Rescue Service and the RSPCA had not raised any concerns over the application for the lemurs, an endangered species from Madagascar.
Marsh last week pleaded not guilty to assault after allegedly ‘putting her hands on her neighbour’s neck’ in a row over her sanctuary.
She also denied two counts of threatening or insulting language against Christopher Hynes and Susan Hammond during the hearing at Chelmsford Magistrates Court.
Marsh previously claimed the neighbour had been filming animals at her sanctuary and had doctored the footage to make them look 'skeletal' after trespassing on her land.
Her case, which carries a maximum six-month jail term if convicted, was adjourned until a hearing at Colchester Magistrates Court on May 7 next year.
Asked what she thought of the charges, she said they were 'ridiculous'.
Uttlesford District Council said in a statement: 'The primate licence is for 12 marmosets and is effective from April 6, 2026, to April 5, 2029.
'There are no lemurs at present. An application to vary the primate licence would need to be made to keep lemurs in the future.'