Box of snakes man killed by bite

A green mamba was one of four snakes found in the box

A Scottish collector who was found dead in a car half a mile from a box of poisonous snakes was killed by a bite, an autopsy report has confirmed.

The medical examiner said it was not possible to say which of the four snakes had been responsible.

Garrick Wales, 48, from Kilmacolm, was found dead in a car at Little Rock, Arkansas, in May last year.

A state medical examiner's report said he seemed to have an "unusual fascination" with venomous snakes.

Mr Wales had been bitten a year earlier in South Africa and was apparently injecting himself with snake venom.

It would appear that Mr Wales had left the airport with his newly acquired snakes and took one or more of them out of the box to handle them Charles Kokes State medical examiner

In his report, which has now been released, Charles Kokes said Mr Wales may have been doing this to either build up immunity or treat the previous bite from the highly venomous boomslang snake.

"Although speculative, it is possible that he may have been engaging in some sort of self-treatment regimen," wrote Mr Kokes

Little Rock police closed their investigation into the death last June.

Steve Moore, the detective assigned to the case, said Mr Wales had sent the snakes to himself after buying them in Florida.

He told the seller that he was taking the snakes to Little Rock to give to a woman who was starting a collection, but police could not trace the woman whose name he gave.

Autopsy report

The 49-year-old's body was found in a car on 13 May.

The autopsy report said his death was caused by a snake bite, but could not identify the snake because of the way venom breaks down in the body.

"It would appear that Mr Wales had left the airport with his newly acquired snakes and took one or more of them out of the box to handle them," wrote Mr Kokes.

"He then acquired a bite on his back, put the snake in its bag, and put the snakes (in) the yard where they were ultimately discovered."

Mr Wales' body was found near Little Rock National Airport

The snakes - a 14in long twig snake, 6ft green mamba, 4ft black mamba and 5ft forest cobra - were found in a wooden box.

They were taken to the Little Rock Zoo and later transferred to a zoo in Texas.

The twig snake has since died, but the other three are still alive.

Mr Kokes added that Mr Wales had an "extensive medical history" dating back about a year before his death.

He said he had received more than 90 units of packed red blood cells after he was bitten by the boomslang.

Mr Wales recovered from that bite, but later developed other medical problems, including severe anaemia and episodes of amnesia.