Taxidermist jailed for ‘brazen’ flouting of endangered species laws

A “BRAZEN” taxidermist has been jailed for 56 weeks after he persistently flouted laws over trading in endangered species.

Aaron Halstead, 29, of Burnley, Lancashire, was first investigated and cautioned in 2011 for regulation breaches when he was a student who operated a taxidermy business to fund his education.

Following the caution, he had the benefit of guidance from a police officer with more than 20 years’ experience in wildlife crime who explained to him the legislation and what was permitted.

But Halstead went on to ignore the advice and was later jailed for 24 weeks in 2015 after he admitted purchasing sperm whale teeth, a cheetah skull and a dolphin skull, and offered to sell a snowy owl without a permit.

Yesterday he received another term of imprisonment for nine similar breaches of the control of trade in endangered species regulations between September 2017 and January 2018.

Halstead was said by the Crown to have used his legitimate business as “a vehicle for his illicit trading”.

He admitted at an earlier hearing to a string of offences including selling and transporting black rhino horns, acquiring tiger skulls for a commercial purpose, offering a sperm whale tooth and black rhino skull for sale and keeping elephant tusks for sale.

Prosecutor Adrian Farrow told Preston Crown Court: “He was intimately familiar with the legislation and had been provided with specific guidance in relation to it.”

Sentencing, Judge Robert Altham said: ““This was brazen, persistent, well-organised criminality.”

Andy McWilliam, of the National Wildlife Crime Unit, said: “This is the third occasion that I have dealt with Halstead for similar offences in under 10 years. He is an extremely knowledgeable individual, but sadly his main concern is profit.”