US flautist admits theft of 299 rare bird skins to buy new flute

A musician has admitted stealing rare bird skins from the Natural History Museum at Tring in Hertfordshire to raise money for a new flute. The 299 brightly-coloured skins were taken from a collections area of the Akeman Street museum on 24 June 2009 during a break-in. US citizen Edwin Rist, 22, appeared at Hemel Hempstead Magistrates' Court and admitted burglary and money-laundering. He will be sentenced at St Albans Crown Court on 14 January.



Hertfordshire Police said most of the birds had been recovered. Rist, a student at The Royal Academy of Music, was described as a very talented flautist and a James Bond fantasist by defence solicitor Andrew Harman. Mr Harman said some of the money from the sale of the bird skins was going to be used to buy a new flute. The museum's director of science, Professor Richard Lane, said at the time of the break-in that the birds formed part of a collection assembled over the past 350 years.

He said the items were of scientific interest, and many were irreplaceable and "literally priceless". There are about 750,000 bird skins, representing 95% of known living species, held at the museum. The court heard how Rist, of High Street, Willesden Green, London, visited the museum before the burglary, telling staff he was a photographic student taking pictures on behalf of an ornithologist from Oxford University.



They allowed him to photograph the birds, which were not on display but were in a separate locked room. Police found the photographs along with pictures of the museum layout, prosecutor Jan Brooks said. The court heard Rist used a brick to smash a window at the museum to get in. He spent the night at Tring railway station with the stolen birds, after missing the last train home.