Shropshire Star

Woman found covered in blood after BEHEADING her two pet snakes at Shropshire home

A woman was found covered in blood after cutting the head off two snakes at her home in Shropshire.

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Jennifer Jeane Lampe has been warned she faces jail after admitting the crime at Telford Magistrates Court today.

Lampe decapitated her pet boa constrictor and bull python because she feared her sister was about to throw her out of the home they shared in the south Shropshire area and did not think she could look after them.

The heads of the two snakes were in the pockets of her jogging bottoms and she was covered in blood when police arrived to arrest her, the court was told.

The 28-year-old, of Shropshire Street, Market Drayton, admitted causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.

RSPCA handout photo of a pair of scissors. Picture: RSPCA/PA Wire
A knife used by Lampe. Picture: RSPCA/PA Wire

Mr Roger Price, prosecuting on behalf of the RSPCA, said the defendant had been living with her sister's family in the south Shropshire area.

She had been there for about a year before the incident on April 8 this year, he said.

"The defendant didn't have a liking for the sister's boyfriend," Mr Price said.

"This caused a degree of friction, which came to a head in particular on the day of the incident.

"The defendant had consumed a quantity of alcohol – by about 1pm in the afternoon she had drunk three cans of Stella, four cans of Carling, a shot of amaretto and a shot of whisky.

"The underlying issue with the boyfriend situation came to a head, and she became very hysterical about the situation.

"She went into the kitchen, took some scissors out of the kitchen draw and a knife, and retired to the bedroom where she kept the two snakes.

"Her sister went to see her, when she got there she saw one of the large snakes, a boa constrictor which was about two metres long, and the bull python, about one-and-a-half metres long.

"She had blood on her."

Mr Price said her sister screamed before leaving the house with her boyfriend and calling the police.

"When the police arrived they found the defendant with the boa constrictor around her neck, still moving but without its head," he added.

"She had the two heads of the snakes in her jogging trouser pockets.

"The small snake was in her bedroom, also decapitated.

"The defendant sat for a while and was then removed from the house by police.

"She admitted what had occurred.

"It got to a point where she thought she would be asked to leave the house.

"She didn't think her sister could properly look after the snakes, and didn't think she could look after them if she was on the streets. She felt her sister would give them away."

Magistrates adjourned the case for the probation service to prepare a pre-sentence report.

Chairman of the bench, Mr Alan Parker, said "all options were open" but warned Lampe she was "looking at a custodial sentence".

She was bailed to appear back at court on August 18, when she will be sentenced.

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