AN exotic bird breeder's battle with Customs and Excise has ended with him having to sell part of his farm.

Harry Sissen, 65, of Cornhill Farm, East Cowton, near Northallerton, has already spent eight months in prison after a court found him guilty of smuggling rare macaws in 2000.

He has now been told he must pay a £150,000 confiscation order or face a further 21 months behind bars.

Mr Sissen said: "I worked with blood and sweat for this farm.

"It was to be my children and grandchildren's inheritance and I'm being forced to sell it.

"They are treating me as if I was a drug baron."

In April last year, Newcastle Crown Court ordered 140 of Mr Sissen's birds be seized by Customs and Excise officers.

Since then, more than 60 of the birds have died, and the breeder has lost a custody battle for the survivors.

Mr Sissen, whose father bought the farm in 1953, has always denied smuggling the birds and says he has been victimised by the authorities.

He is now hoping to take Customs and Excise to court for allegedly mistreating the confiscated parrots, macaws and cockatoos and says he will write a book about the case.

He said: "I was the most successful breeder of critically endangered birds in Europe and every bird I have ever claimed I've bred, I have.

"These birds were like old friends to me - I had some breeding pairs for 30 years.

"They are as intelligent as dogs and they didn't deserve what happened to them.

"My family was left completely traumatised, as were the birds."