A snake lover was strangled to death by his own pet python – 8ft Tiny – after it wrapped itself around him and suffocated him. An inquest into the death of Dan Brandon, who was found dead in his home, today heard he was tragically killed by his pet.
Dan, 31, was discovered last year at his home in Church Crookham, Fleet, in the room in which he kept his snakes, with the pet out of his pen.
His parents heard a loud bang from upstairs when preparing dinner and went to check on their son as he had failed to come downstairs, the coroner was told.
They attempted to perform CPR on him, after noticing Tiny was not in his pen, but Dan couldn’t be saved.
His mother Babs told Basingstoke Coroners’ Court today he kept 10 snakes and 12 tarantulas in his room at the family home and had had Tiny, an African rock python, since she was small enough to fit in his hand.
Coroner Andrew Bradley recorded a verdict of misadventure and said:
“The most likely scenario is that Tiny was engaged with Dan – I have no doubt about that.
“She was coiling around him, at which point I have no idea. There was a point at which either she takes hold of him unexpectedly or trips him up or some other mechanism.”
Mr Bradley said the snake then hid, probably “because of the shock of him falling or because of his reaction”.
He added Mr Brandon was asphyxiated “as a result of contact with Tiny”, and that he “cannot see any other reason” for the death.