Fraud charges over alleged whale drug euthanasia ring

Additional charges including fraud and aiding the suicide of a 75-year-old Gold Coast man have been laid over an alleged illegal backyard euthanasia operation potentially linked to 20 deaths across Australia. Three people were prosecuted after the death of a 43-year-old Hope Island man in April this year, when a post-mortem examination found he died of acute pentobarbitone toxicity – a veterinary drug used to kill animals. Police alleged 53-year-old Brett Taylor from Main Beach ran a suicide business called End of Life Services, and set up a fake charity claiming to euthanise beached whales to obtain the drugs. He was charged in September with a string of charges including two counts of aiding suicide and one count each of trafficking dangerous drugs, possessing dangerous drugs and receiving or possessing property obtained from trafficking or supplying.