A young lad found a deadly Rock Python inside a pillowcase in a Newcastle back alley and calmly carried it into his local pet shop where it since seems to have scared the crap out of the pet shop owner and all others who have approached it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13392416

I hate to be a pedant, but the only way a python that size is going to be deadly is if it falls on your head from a VERY great height.

Apparently it could easily have strangled the kid, apart from the fact they said it had a very nasty bite.
I've seen quite a few snakes before but I would probably have run a mile from that one.

Have you seen the size of a full grown pythons jaws when they open up
I recall watching film of one breaking into a cage and swallowing an almost full sized pig whole.
Naturally it couldn't get back out through the bars again and found itself trapped.

OK.There seems to be a bit of hysteria here, fairly usual from the press.

A fully grown python is a very dangerous animal, reaching 36 feet long, and as fat as a barrel in the middle. (one of those aluminium kegs they roll into pub cellars.) A dealer I knew told me he knew a gay couple who had a 30+ foot one.

At less than two metres, that snake was pretty harmles, tho as you say, a nasty bite. Nasty more for the risk of blood poisoning than anything else tho.

I noticed that the guy had just the tail of that one wrapped around his arm and he was struggling to keep his circulation going, so I imagine if the whole thing got wrapped around a kids neck he could well be strangled as was suggested.

Apart from that you got admire the 12 yr old kid for being so cool and simply just carrying it into the pet shop.

WOW!

That bloke has just about the single most boring monotone voice I have ever heard!

You got sharper eyes than me.

Personally I thought he had the whole damn thing round his arm, he wasn't struggling, it was quite keen to get away from him and into the cage, it really wasn't very thick, and strength there goes with girth, not surprised it was pissed of if the little shits had been hitting it with sticks. From the point of view of bite, not nice, but would do less physical damage than a Jack russel.

People who buy such snakes are morons, as no-one short of a zoo has a cage big enough.

I see what you mean, it's not shown on the vid.

It must have been the version I saw on the TV news which showed just the tail end of the snake coiled around the guys lower arm exerting quite a bit of pressure whilst the guy appeared to be somewhat concerned and was continuously trying to flex his fingers just to keep the circulation going.

Personally I'd prefer to take my chances with a Jack Russell than have that creature wrapped around my neck.

Well, only a fool allows a constrictor to coil right around their neck. The clue is in the word 'constrictor'.

I've not seen the news clip, but I find it hard to imagine a snake that size cutting off the blood supply to the hand, let alone with the tail end.

Oh yeah, I remember Gerald Durrel or DA saying about catching a LARGE constrictor, - all you need is three people. One to hold the head, one the tail, and one the middle.

It's a bit like crocs. The jaw will brek before it will open, but you can hold it shut with almost just one hand.