BUSINESSMAN Kevin Cosgrove admitted that he was one of the men arrested in an antiques shop raid.

But he said he had retired from the business five years ago and now only did part-time book-keeping for the firm.

He said the company which owns the Sellitall building was now owned by his son Darrell.

Darrell described the raid as "the final straw" for the store and said he was now looking to close the business down.

Tuesday's arrests came only a week after another controversy over a costume in the shop window which some people incorrectly identified as a Hitler Youth uniform.

Darrell said: "They told us they had obtained a warrant to search the building as they alleged we were displaying illegal taxidermy.

"Our manager explained to them that the taxidermy we had was in the ground-floor shop. These items had been bought over the counter and as far as he was concerned they were just another antique.

"The items were bought in all innocence and if the manager had thought they were illegal he would hardly have displayed them in the window.

"What motivated this huge police raid is unknown to us.

"We did not try to hide the items and if any officer had come in to tell us they were illegal we would have removed them and destroyed them.

"If the police want to take this matter further we will continue with the truth.

"We did not realise that taxidermy was subject to any regulations and if we have broken the law we will apologise.

"The whole episode has been extremely distressing for a 40-year-old business.

"We have been robbed on three occasions, had sensationalised stories about uniforms and this over-the-top raid has been the final straw.

"We tried to give Accrington one of the finest antiques stores in the country but we are now going to close the place down.''