POLICE recovered a two-foot long snake - sunbathing in a garden.

Cyril, an African Black King snake, was discovered by a council worker cutting hedges on Bramhall Close in Winsford last Wednesday.

"A council worker noticed it sitting in the sun," said Inspector Chris Clarke. "He thought it was a joke snake, but when he went near it, it moved.

"The officers trapped it and put it in a paper bag.

"We suspected it was somebody's pet that had escaped and been sunning itself on the pavement."

Cyril was taken to Mid Cheshire Animal Welfare where he was looked after until he could be reunited with owner Phillip Beresford.

"It just got out of the tank somehow," said Phillip, from Saxon Crossway. "I thought it was around the house but it got to the top of the road and was out for about for three weeks. I thought it was the last we'd seen of it.

"We've only had it about nine months so it's still a baby. It's pretty big but it's not poisonous or dangerous."

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