Crocodile found in a bath in London

A two-foot long crocodile has been found living in a bath in Peckham.

Pest controller Steve North discovered the killer beast while on a routine call advertising the local council's services.

A resident invited him in and sid he had a 'problem' in his bathroom and asked Steve to take a look at it.

Steve said: "I followed him in. What I didn't expect was to be eyeballed by a 2ft long crocodile, happily lounging in the bath."

The man, a tenant who was renting the flat, said he was looking after the crocodile for a friend.

A team of animal control experts had to be brought in to remove the crocodile and take it away.

Driver banned for having world's most untidy car

Police have banned a woman driver's car from the road - for being too untidy.
The Vauxhall Astra was so full of junk, magazines, old clothes and even bits of furniture that they could barely see the driver at it roared down a motorway in Dusseldorf, Germany.

The driver - who has not been named by police - has been banned from taking the car on the road again until it has passed a tidiness test.


Police said the car was so full of junk the woman's face was pressed up against the windscreen as she drove.

"I'm sure this will make most people feel a lot better about leaving the odd sweet wrapper lying around in their car," joked one police source.

Lonely man jumps into Knut the bear's enclosure

Police in Germany say a lonely man jumped into the Berlin zoo enclosure of famed polar bear Knut to try and make friends with the 440lb predator. Fortunately, officials were able to keep him and the animal apart by distracting Knut with a leg of beef.

The 30-year-old man jumped over a fence into a water-filled ditch at the edge of the bear's enclosure on Monday morning. Police say zoo officials distracted 2-year-old Knut with the meat and lured him into his cage.

Officers led the man away unharmed. Police say he told them that he felt lonely and that Knut also appeared to be lonely - but he did not give the impression of being mentally disturbed.

Knut was hand-raised after his mother rejected him at birth. He rose to stardom early last year as a cute white ball of fluff, but has since grown rapidly into a hulking 440-pound predator.

He currently faces being made homeless, as he has outgrown his enclosure and Berlin zoo cannot afford to build him a new one in these tough economic times.

McCanns make Christmas video plea

Kate and Gerry McCann have begged for help to ensure this is the last Christmas they spend without their missing daughter Madeleine.
The couple have released a new video featuring previously unseen footage of the little girl playing happily with her family before her disappearance.

The clips were mostly filmed around Christmas 2006, the last time the McCanns were together with all three of their children over the festive period.

Madeleine was nearly four when she vanished from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal on May 3 last year as her parents dined with friends nearby

The new video shows her sitting on the stairs of the McCanns' home in Rothley, Leicestershire, flanked by her younger siblings, twins Sean and Amelie.

In the first recording of her speaking that has been made public, she encourages her brother and sister to copy her gestures, saying: "Clap your hands together and one, two, three."

Madeleine then holds up her new pair of shoes and says: "These are my shoes." Behind the camera Mr McCann asks her what colour they are, and she answers: "Pink."

The short film, which has Snow Patrol's hit song Chasing Cars as its soundtrack, also features a montage of clips of Madeleine.

Mr and Mrs McCann decided not to appear in the new video, but it includes a direct emotional appeal from them for assistance: "Christmas is a time for children. Please help bring our daughter back." And it closes with the words: "This will be our second Christmas without our daughter. Please help us make sure we don't have a third."

McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "Kate and Gerry do not wish to say anything further. They feel the video will speak for itself. This message is entirely focused on Madeleine, as it should be at this time of year. Kate and Gerry are still very much continuing a lot of hard work behind the scenes in the search for their daughter."



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