"Mr Bird Flu" a convicted fraudster

In the latest in the bird flu furore it now appears that the dealer in exotic birds at the centre of Britain's first bird flu outbreak is a convicted VAT fraudster.

The British press were in hot pursuit after it was disclosed that Brett Hammond the director of Pegasus Birds, runs the quarantine centre where the H5N1 strain of bird flu was found.

Forty three year old Hammond, has earned himself the title "Mr Bird Flu" after the discovery of a dead parrot in Essex.

Apparently Mr Hammond runs one of 83 official quarantine centres in the UK.

The parrot infected with the H5N1 virus had been imported from Surinam, and was then kept with other birds imported from Taiwan.

Mr Hammond has refused to answer questions from the media about the parrot and the Department of Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) said it would not reveal where the bird was discovered for "bio-security reasons".

However Mr Hammond's own staff at a Pegasus Birds retail outlet said the parrot had died "miles away" from the shop.

In defence of his boss one man, who described himself as a "senior manager" at Pegasus, said allegations made about Mr Hammond were "despicable", and declared reports of the incident to be "ignorant and badly researched".

According to a DEFRA spokesman licensed vets assess suitable candidates to run the quarantine centres based on "animal welfare considerations".

When Mr Hammond admitted fraud offences in 1997, he was sentenced to 18 months in jail, which was reduced to a year on appeal.

It is claimed by Customs and Excise investigators that he had failed to pay £658,000 in connection with more than 160 trips to Belgium and Holland to buy birds.

However Mr Hammond claimed the figure was much less and is still appealing at a tribunal.

Pegasus Birds had already been criticised by animal rights groups such as Animal Aid, which drew attention to the condition of the birds Pegasus offered at a national sale.

When Mr Hammond was questioned during a 1992 investigation by the television reporter Roger Cook into the alleged illegal import of birds from Indonesia, he denied the claims.

The director of the Animal Protection Agency (APA), Elaine Toland, said her charity is calling for a ban on live bird markets in the wake of concerns over bird flu.

Toland says of Pegasus that the size of the company and the fact that it imports such a large number of wild birds is a major concern.

They believe such trade poses a greater risk of disease than migratory birds, as some areas of the trade are still operated illegally and do not quarantine their birds.