{Hmmm, let's press 'all' the buttons shall we? I was embarrassed to be seen reading this, let alone copying it for the files!}
THE CITIZEN (Stroud, UK) 04 September 10 Boa constrictor snake man in court for heroin possession (Jo Barber)
Snake man Martin Burns has admitted possessing heroin.
Burns, 42, who sparked an alert last month when he threw a boa constrictor into a canal in Stroud, appeared in court charged with having the Class A drug at Bourne Lane, Brimscombe.
Burns, of Spider Lane, Stroud, was unrepresented when he pleaded guilty to the offence of having heroin in his car at 11am on June 29.
Prosecutor Peter Ashby told the hearing on Wednesday that police saw Burns sitting in his car "looking as if he was taking drugs".
The officers then found some burn material in pieces of tinfoil in the vehicle, Mr Ashby said.
They suspected the residue was heroin and also discovered residue of Paracetamol and caffeine which were "cutting" agents used by drug users, said Mr Ashby.
When he was interviewed later Burns said the drug was for his own personal use and that he burned it and inhaled it, the court heard.
"He paid £10 for 0.2g," he told Judge Joti Bopa-Rai.
Burns, who insisted in court that the heroin was merely residue, was also in breach of a suspended prison sentence imposed on June 24 at Cardiff Crown Court.
Judge Bopa-Rai said since the heroin offence was only a few days after Burns' sentencing, the crown court would make a decision.
She adjourned the case until September 15 at Gloucester Crown Court and released Burns on unconditional bail.
Updated probation service reports were also requested.
Earlier Burns was seen by a member of the public when he threw the snake into the Thames and Severn Canal at Bowbridge on August 12.
He was arrested on August 19 on suspicion of releasing a species of animal into the wild and bailed until October 14 pending further inquiries by the police.
He has said the snake was dead before being thrown into the water.
Boa constrictor snake man in court for heroin possession
