A pet shop owner who is a native of Serbia is facing imprisonment when the 6ft snake he left inside his car as an alarm, escaped and caused panic to the public.

Radovan Rarkic, who owns a pet shop in Belgrade, Northern Ireland said he left the snake in his E-Class Mercedes because he could not afford to buy an alarm system. He said he always leave the snake inside the car every night to make sure that no one would steal his precious possession.

But the snake escaped through an open window. The man had to call the police to recapture the snake and was subsequently booked for endangering public safety.

He told the police, "I only wanted to make sure that even if I couldn't take revenge on anyone who dared to rob my car then at least the snake could do it for me."