Australian Museum thief sentenced

It was the biggest museum theft in the nation's history, with more than 2,000 specimens, including a skull from the now-extinct Tasmanian tiger, stolen from Sydney's Australian Museum. Former museum pest controller Hendrikus van Leeuwen, convicted of the theft, was today jailed for up to seven years for what a judge described as "enormous, incalculable harm". . .

Soon after he was hired in 1996, van Leeuwen began stealing specimens from the Australian Museum whose natural history collection - the oldest in the country - dates back to 1827. . .

His haul included skulls, skins and skeletons from animals such as the Ganges River dolphin, the clouded leopard and the rare Bulmer's Fruit Bat. . .

Some items were irreparably damaged, the court was told.

Some exhibits had their identifying numbers removed while others were bleached or, like the Tasmanian tiger skull, had teeth removed.

Posted by David on April 25, 2007 11:24 AM