Surprise as six-foot long snake found on top of bathroom radiator in Rochdale home

A huge snake discovered by a terrified teenager in a bathroom was recovered by a real-life pet detective. Karen Marriott dialed 999 after her daughter Hannah, 16, spotted the six foot-long reptile curled up on a bath mat on top of a radiator. Craig Wallace, a detective based at Rochdale police station, overheard the control room call and offered to help as he has experience with keeping snakes. Det Con Wallace raced to the family’s home in Littleborough, Rochdale, Greater Manchester, and managed to capture the snake in a pillow slip.



It was taken back to the station before being transferred into the care of the RSPCA. The reptile, white with black eyes, is believed to be a northern pine snake - and Det Con Wallace believes it may be a missing or escaped family pet which slithered into the house on Halifax Road during the recent warm weather. Mum Karen, 40, said she was forced to dial police for help at 7am on Tuesday morning as she couldn’t get hold of the RSPCA. She said: “Hannah was calm at first. She can’t even deal with spiders, but I don’t think she thought it was real.



“She’d been looking at it for a few minutes until it moved. She thought I was having a joke. I felt like a wally dialling 999 but I didn’t know what to do. I’m frightened because I don’t know how it got in. It was like something out of a film. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Everybody needed a wee, but we couldn’t go.” Det Con Wallace said that although it wasn’t a police matter, he was concerned for the family who were too scared to use their own bathroom. He said: “I keep snakes so I know a lot about them. It was a northern pine snake.



“They can give a nasty bite, but they’re not venomous. If it did bite you, you would struggle to get it off. I put my hand through a pillow slip then got the back of it’s head and wrapped it up.” He believes the snake is a pet and had either escaped or been set free. DC Wallace added: “It’s been a nice few days with people leaving doors and windows open. It isn’t uncommon for them to go through the loft space or floorboards. He added: “I wanted to keep it as a station pet, but no-one would sit near me.” The RSPCA later attended Rochdale police station and the snake is now being cared for by the animal charity.