Car snake could Sheffield boy's pet

Jack with his pet snake Keith, which went missing in June

Police posted photos on social media of a five-foot corn snake that slithered out of a dashboard while the finders were driving down the M5 in Worcestershire.

Following the alarming discovery, the pair pulled over on the motorway just hours after buying the car from a Sheffield dealership.

Now Fiona Wellington, of Endowood Road, Millhouses, believes it could be her son’s snake, Keith, which escaped from its box while being transported in their old car in June.

Despite scouring the car and house several times and even staying in the vehicle overnight with a dead mouse to try and coax it out, there was no trace of Keith.

Fiona later traded in her car at Bristol Street Motors on Attercliffe Road and believes the couple has found her son Jack’s beloved snake.

She said: “One of my friends showed the posts on Twitter and I went ‘Oh my God, it’s Keith, after all this time!’”

“I fully believe it’s him, I hope the couple who have the car get in touch.

“Everyone knows about Keith and the lengths I’ve gone to to try and find him.

“I even had to ring up Dobcroft Junior School, where Jack goes, and told the receptionist on the phone it could possibly be in the school when we first lost him. She just burst out laughing.”

Officers from the Central Midlands Police Group called it ‘the most bizarre job in a long time’.

Police on the M5 tried to retrieve the snake but, when they were unsuccessful, the couple were happy to carry on with their journey after being told the reptile was harmless.

Fiona has appealed to the couple to get in touch so the family can be reunited with Keith. They had owned the pet for around three years before it was lost.

“If it is Keith, Jack will be so made up. He was absolutely devastated when he first went missing.”