Mystery as man found dead next to pet snake

Police are looking into whether a man from Hampshire was killed by his pet snake.

Daniel Brandon's body was found at his home on 25 August with "serious injuries".

It's reported that one of his pets - a python - was found near him, out of its pen.

The 31-year-old from Church Crookham was said to be an experienced animal handler. So far his death is not being treated as suspicious.

At a coroner's inquest, it was found that Daniel died from asphyxiation and that the snake had not been ruled out in the investigation.

The coroner for North Hampshire, Andrew Bradley, told Newsbeat: "A snake was found in the room where the man died."

On Daniel's social media pages, there are lots of photos of him, posing with snakes, including a huge Burmese python. The Sun says he owned a number of snakes.

Pythons kill by wrapping themselves around their prey and squeezing tighter and tighter but they rarely kill humans.

Surrey and Hampshire Reptile Rescue told Newsbeat: "There's never been a case of a python killing someone in Britain before. They only kill what they eat."

Friends have set up a JustGiving page to raise money for the WWF and the RSPB in his memory.

On the site, a friend says: "Dan was obsessed with snakes, spiders, birds and all wildlife.

"We have struggled when looking for photos for his funeral to find any when he isn't holding a spider, snake, small bird, toad, slow worm, hedgehog, feeding a fox, stroking cattle, befriending a cat or dog so these charities seemed the perfect choice.

"In memory of you Dan.... who we will all miss SO much."

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