A TAXIDERMIST from Burnley, who traded in endangered species including a dolphin, cheetah skull, snowy owl and sperm whale teeth, could be facing a jail term.

Twenty-four year-old Aaron Halstead is understood to have bough the specimens from auction houses and through online purchases, as far back as 2013, Burnley Crown Court was told.

Investigators in the UK received a tip-off from Dutch police that there had been a number of suspicious purchases made for rare breeds, all of which eventually led to Halstead, of New Copy Barn, Glen View Road.

Halstead pleaded guilty to three offences of purchasing an endangered species, covering three sperm whale teeth, the cheetah skull and a dolphin, and one charge of offering a snowy owl for sale.

He denied purchasing four leopard skins but prosecutor Emma Kehoe said that the pleas, after discussions between the two parties, were acceptable.

Defence counsel Gerard Doran, admitted it was a 'rare case' which had required a number of discussions before the pleas were entered.

He told the court that the sellers, on the other end of the transactions, had all received police cautions, as a result of their roles in the trading.

But Judge Beverley Lunt said: "He has already got a previous police caution, for offering endangered species for sale, in 2011. I would like a pre-sentence report in his case."

Halstead was bailed until December 7 and warned by Judge Lunt that all sentencing options, including custody, would be considered when he returned to court.

Speaking after the case, Andy McWilliams, of the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU), said: "We know that he has been purchasing items from all over the country but we believe that most of these purchases were made over the internet."

Pc Nigel Keates, a wildlife officer for Lancashire Police, said: "The question we had with the skull was what would someone want with something like that.

"It might have been for display but there is also the possibility, like rhino horn in Chinese medicine, that the bone can be ground up to provide some form of remedy.

"It has been a steep learning curve for us - usually we deal with dogs attacking sheep or badger baiting, not animals which would be more at home on The Serengeti."

The specimens were all recovered following a raid on premises belonging to Halstead, following a year-long probe involving both the NWCU and Lancashire Police.

Pc Keates said that a number of checks had to be run with experts, up and down the country, to establish the history of the specimens.

Halstead had also originally faced a charge involving the sale of a jaguar but this was not proceeded with by the prosecution.

He has run a taxidermy outfit for a number of years and has a number of pictures of purchased zebras, giraffes, bears and tigers on his company websites.