Dee
06-14-2006, 03:26 PM
:eek:
British man pleads guilty to sending huge tarantula spider to female colleague (http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/14062006/2/koddities-british-man-pleads-guilty-sending-huge-tarantula-spider-female.html)
LONDON (AP) - A retail store employee admitted Wednesday that he delivered a package containing a huge, venomous tarantula to a female colleague the day he handed in his resignation.
Mahlon Hector, 22, pleaded guilty in Leicester Magistrates' Court in central England to delivering a rare Mexican red-kneed tarantula in a box addressed to a woman colleague at a branch of Marks & Spencer in Leicester.
At the same time, he handed store bosses his resignation.
The intended recipient, Susan Griffin, was not hurt.
Hector is to be sentenced later on the charge of sending a letter or other article conveying a threat on March 28. He did not disclose his motive in court Wednesday.
When staff at the store discovered the spider they alerted the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which took it away.
"It was a daft (stupid) idea. They are not the most dangerous spider, but it could be fatal if it is given to someone who has an allergic reaction to it," the society's spokesman said Wednesday.
The Mexican red-kneed tarantula - Latin name Brachypelma Smithi - is commonly used in movies because of its scary appearance.
With a leg span measuring up to 25 centimetres, it has a hairy, dark-brown body and reddish-orange leg joints. Each leg ends with two claws which are used for climbing trees.
It is said to bite rarely, but flicks its hairs at victims.
It is the only tarantula listed as rare by the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species.
British man pleads guilty to sending huge tarantula spider to female colleague (http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/14062006/2/koddities-british-man-pleads-guilty-sending-huge-tarantula-spider-female.html)
LONDON (AP) - A retail store employee admitted Wednesday that he delivered a package containing a huge, venomous tarantula to a female colleague the day he handed in his resignation.
Mahlon Hector, 22, pleaded guilty in Leicester Magistrates' Court in central England to delivering a rare Mexican red-kneed tarantula in a box addressed to a woman colleague at a branch of Marks & Spencer in Leicester.
At the same time, he handed store bosses his resignation.
The intended recipient, Susan Griffin, was not hurt.
Hector is to be sentenced later on the charge of sending a letter or other article conveying a threat on March 28. He did not disclose his motive in court Wednesday.
When staff at the store discovered the spider they alerted the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which took it away.
"It was a daft (stupid) idea. They are not the most dangerous spider, but it could be fatal if it is given to someone who has an allergic reaction to it," the society's spokesman said Wednesday.
The Mexican red-kneed tarantula - Latin name Brachypelma Smithi - is commonly used in movies because of its scary appearance.
With a leg span measuring up to 25 centimetres, it has a hairy, dark-brown body and reddish-orange leg joints. Each leg ends with two claws which are used for climbing trees.
It is said to bite rarely, but flicks its hairs at victims.
It is the only tarantula listed as rare by the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species.