Father Finds 4ft Long Snake While Cutting The Grass In His Garden

A father-of-three found a 4ft long snake in his garden while cutting the grass.

Mark Sampson, 44, from Ipswich, was working outside his home on St John’s Road on Sunday when he spotted the black snake under a railway sleeper.

He said: “I was shaking and terrified. I was too shaky to photograph it and went indoors in a panic attack.

“I’m terrified of snakes.”

He made an appeal for help on his Facebook page and contacted friend Kevin Wallace, a zoologist at Otley College.

Mr Wallace called to the home and rescued the snake, lifting it into a sack with the help of friend Katy Hackett, a children’s nurse.

The rescue was captured on camera by Mr Sampson’s daughters Tabby, 14, and Tilly, 12.

Mr Sampson said: “My youngest Savannah, 10, came in the garden and was quite curious. She named it Bob.”

Experts are now trying to determine whether the creature is just a large grass snake or a Mexican Kingsnake, native to the Sonora Desert on the Mexican-US border.

Although Mexican Kingsnakes are not poisonous, they are constrictors which kill their prey by asphyxiation.

Mr Sampson added: “If it’s a Kingsnake I have no idea how it got there.

“I was attempting to clear my jungle of a garden but it was more of a jungle than I realised. My lesson is to keep my garden trimmed back.”

(Pictures: PA)