Dan Brandon posted photos of himself with his pets including a huge Burmese python
An animal lover was killed by his 8ft pet python Tiny in a ‘show of affection’ in his bedroom at home after it escaped from its case and crushed him to death.
Keen snake handler Dan Brandon died of asphyxiation at his home in Church Crookham, Hampshire, making him the person in Britain to be killed by a python.
His mother Babs said her 31-year-old son kept ten snakes and 12 tarantulas in his room at the family home and had had Tiny, an African rock python, since she was small enough to fit in his hand.
Coroner Andrew Bradley recorded a verdict of misadventure at Basingstoke Coroners’ Court, saying: ‘We have nothing apart from Tiny so I have to accept she is instrumental in Dan’s death. I do not believe in any way it was aggression from Tiny nor a confrontation – if anything it was a show of affection, a moment of peace.’
Mr Bradley said the snake then hid, probably ‘because of the shock of him falling or because of his reaction’.
He added Mr Brandon was asphyxiated ‘as a result of contact with Tiny’, and that he ‘cannot see any other reason’ for the death on August 25 last year.
The keen snake handler died of asphyxiation at his home in Church Crookham, Hampshire
Mr Brandon’s parents, brother and sister were in court, and Mrs Brandon told the coroner the snake loved her son, was his ‘baby’, and that he never felt threatened by Tiny and was aware of how strong she was.
Pathologist Dr Adman al-Badri said his diagnosis of asphyxiation was one he came to by exclusion, but said what he found included a haemorrhage behind one eye, plus burst blood vessels, and congested lungs – another sign of asphyxiation.
He told the court he examined the neck muscles and ‘dissected them layer by layer’ and that there were ‘no specific signs on his neck’.
Dr al-Badri said Mr Brandon was ‘obviously fit and healthy’ and had ‘no disease whatsoever’.
The court also heard how there were no bite marks or puncture wounds caused by a snake discovered on his body, and Mr Bradley ruled there was no aggression from the python.
Reptile expert Professor John Cooper said he examined Tiny at the Brandon’s home in November and measured her at eight foot and four inches long.
Describing Mr Brandon, who had kept snakes for 16 years, as someone who was ‘obviously experienced’ at caring for tropical creatures, he told the court he ‘would have known how to unwrap a python’.
Inspecting the skin, which Tiny shed later that November, Professor Cooper said if the snake had coiled around Mr Brandon, there would have been scratches visible on the skin caused by him trying to get her off – of which there were none.
He said African rock pythons are ‘rather more temperamental’, but ‘got to know their handlers’, and that if Mr Brandon had been bitten by the snake, it ‘would have been obvious’.
Following his death last August, Hampshire Police confirmed that officers had launched an investigation into the death on behalf of North East Hampshire Coroner Andrew Bradley
The hearing was told how the landscaper had enjoyed a few cans of lager after finishing work and his parents heard a loud bang from his room.
His parents Babs and Derek Brandon called him for dinner but became concerned when he failed to come downstairs.
Tearful Mrs Brandon told the inquest: ‘I heard a crash from upstairs and I thought he had knocked something over, I assumed it was his dumbbells.
‘We shouted for dinner at 7.15pm and as he didn’t answer my husband went upstairs. He then called me up as he thought he had fallen asleep, which does happen quite a bit.
‘I went up and he was face down on the floor. He felt a little bit cold. There were 10 snakes and 12 tarantulas all away in the vivarium but I could not see Tiny.
‘At that point I shook him to try and wake him up and called 999. Nobody saw Tiny until later; she had hidden under a box that Dan used to put all his snake stuff in and she had found a way under there and was coiled up.’
Paramedics arrived at their home eight minutes later but despite their best efforts Mr Brandon could not be saved.
Mrs Brandon said of Tiny: ‘She was his baby and she loved him. She could be temperamental, if she didn’t want to be held she would pretend to strike or hiss but she never felt threatened by him and he loved her.
‘She was alright with me if it was just me in the room, but if I went in his room and he was there she would start striking as if to say ‘leave him alone’.’
Coroner Mr Bradley said the snake may have ‘unexpectedly got hold of him’ or caused him to trip.
He said: ‘I don’t believe there was any aggression on Dan’s part or on Tiny’s part, the absence of bite marks is significant here.
‘The most likely scenario is Tiny was engaged with Dan and I have no doubt she was coiled round him and there is a point where she either takes hold of him unexpectedly or tripped him up or some other mechanism.
Two of Mr Brandon’s pythons are pictured in their pens at his home in Church Crookham
‘And she then makes off, maybe because of the shock of him falling over or because of his reaction.
‘We have nothing apart from Tiny so I have to accept she is instrumental in Dan’s death. I do not believe in any way it was aggression from Tiny nor a confrontation, if anything it was a show of affection, a moment of peace.’
Mr Bradley added: ‘There was no aggression, this was an affectionate relationship and if there was any contact it would have only been for affection.’
A statement from Mrs Brandon, made on behalf of the family, said: ‘Five months ago we lost a son, brother, uncle, best mate, friend and drinking buddy and one of the funniest people you could wish to know.
‘I cry every day and I relive it all the time, all the family have wanted is answers and I do not know even if we have that.’
Mr Brandon posted photos of himself on social media with his pets including a huge Burmese python.
Friend John Cottrell set up a JustGiving fundraising page in Mr Brandon’s memory which has raised £485 for the WWF animal charity.
He wrote: ‘On August 25, Dan unexpectedly passed away at home.
‘He was obsessed with snakes, spiders, birds and all wildlife, in his memory we have set up two fundraising pages, one for WWF and one for RSPB.
‘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.’
How deadly can pet pythons be? When popular snakes have turned on their owners in killings across the world
Burmese pythons can grow up to 23ft
Pythons are found in sub-Saharan African countries and in parts of Asia.
They are non-venomous snakes and kill by constriction, latching on with their teeth and coiling around their prey.
Burmese pythons can grow up to 23ft with other species, like the ball python growing to around 6ft.
Due to their docile natures, pythons are one of the most popular snake breeds to be kept as pets. However, attacks on their handlers are not uncommon.
A python had never been known to have killed a person in Britain until the death of Dan Brandon was confirmed, but there have been previous fatalities across the world.
A man was killed by a python in Indonesia earlier in the year, while two boys died in Canada after one escaped from a pet shop in 2013.
Noah Barthe, four, and his brother Connor, six, were at a sleepover at Jean-Claude Savoie’s flat above the shop, called Reptile Ocean, in August 2013.
The African rock python got out through a ventilation duct in Campbellton, New Brunswick, and dropped into the living room where the two boys were sleeping.
It strangled and bit them to death and sparked a court trial, where the owner was cleared of responsibility.