http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11650446

Did they eat it?
The text has some funny parts too.

Looks more like some harmless colubrid snake to me - viperine snake, Natrix maura?

I did not hear about "poisonous" snakes so far - one can eat'em all.....

"Wayne Hull from City Reptiles says he is sure the snake is an adder but has yet to distinguish the exact species"

good boy - good show....but far away from beeing a "specialist".

It needs to be an adder because the head size changes, when she is ready to attack because the glands blow up ... Peter, I have still to learn a lot!

And he knows it is a juvenile but he does not know which species. Also interesting.

Head shape changing is typical in water snakes of the genus Natrix and in other colubrids too.

Never heard about blowing up glands, Guenter? Those are called "air glands" and the snakes usually use'em for hissing....

It is feeding on mice!

Now that would be something to see?

learning from experts:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/1029/snake.html

When I was a little kid living in upstate New York, a friend and I used to ride our dirt bikes to an old race car track in the woods and flip tin. We used to find Garter and Ribbon snakes, and they would flatten out their bodies and push out their jaws to make their head triangle shaped just like a viper. They would huff and puff and try to scare us away. Once we picked them up and they bit us a few times, they settled down. I reckon other snakes would be able to do this as well.

It couldn't be more Natrix maura if it tried.

To quote Don McLeroy: "Someone needs to stand up to these experts".

The Irish media were informed at the time that the snake was in fact Natrix maura and that it was in fact a harmless species but they ran with the "poisonous" snake story and accompanying film footage anyway.
Obviously stories involving 'dangerous' animals make for better headlines and grab more viewers attention.

The media coverage did nothing for the credibility of the guy who owns the shop though...he got quite an ego beating on the Irish Herp forums