Man who kept crocodile and snakes in 'appalling conditions' in bedroom is jailed

A man nicknamed "Snake" has been jailed over keeping a 4ft crocodile and several snakes in "appalling" conditions in his bedroom.

Lee Thompson, 36, was jailed for 26 weeks. He was arrested in January having been on the run in the Basildon area since police found a reptile menagerie at a flat he rented in 2015.

Among the animals, which had been left without food, water and heat, were 35 snakes, a Nile lizard, a bullfrog and a snapping turtle.

Seven spiders and nine of the snakes were dead when they were found and the turtle was so sick it needed to be put down.

Several of the snakes - horned vipers, an Indochinese spitting cobra, Uracoan rattlesnakes and two Western diamondback rattlesnakes - were classed as dangerous animals.

Those that survived were taken into the care of specially trained handlers with the RSPCA. But Thompson, who was not at the flat at the time it was raided, could not be found.

He was arrested nearly three years later, when Essex police discovered the 4ft spectacled caiman and other exotic animals at a house he had rented in Westcliff.

The crocodile, a fat-tailed scorpion and snakes that included cobras, copperheads, pythons, and a Madagascar giant hognose, were all found at the address, in similarly dire conditions to the previous animals.

Thompson told police the animals were his pets, and claimed he had no intention of selling them, while admitting to neglecting the creatures.

"Thompson kept wild animals in appalling conditions, ultimately causing 17 to die," am Essex police spokesperson said.

"Not only did he keep them without a licence but showed no care for their well-being or their survival."

Thompson was convicted of breaching a ban on keeping a dangerous wild animal, causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal, and keeping a dangerous wild animal without a license.

He was additionally fined £115.