Now, most of the world's press will probably not have covered this story. But thanks to the wonders of 21st century technology, Mudcatters need not be deprived of it.

I was just going to give a link to the Guardian story, with a taster quote. But it's all tasty, so here it all is (but particularly note the quotes from the Police Constable):

Tuesday February 26, 2002

Britain's first known case of common assault by iguana-throwing went to court yesterday, with the alleged offensive weapon himself watching beadily from a tank by the dock.

The reptile, known as Igwig, and almost a metre long, curled up below magistrates at Newport, Isle of Wight, as his owner Susan Wallace, locally nicknamed the Lizard Lady, denied the attack and two charges of animal cruelty.

She admitted smashing a window, although not with Igwig. The court heard she upset customers at the Anchor pub in Cowes by putting the iguana on their heads and then hurled him at a doorman. With Igwig round her neck, she then went to the town's police station where officers thought she was wearing "a very brightly coloured scarf", until she took it off and threw it at them as well.

As Igwig dozed next to a water bottle and a selection of edible leaves, the court heard that Wallace, 47 and a former air steward, launched her first attack when she became "extremely drunk" and Anchor doorman John Rosenthal showed her the door. Igwig flew through the air at him twice while Wallace hacked at his shins, he said, adding: "I was startled but I don't lose my calm easily."

Wallace then weaved off to the police station to register a protest with PC David Harry, who told the court that after his scarf mistake he ended up with Igwig clinging to his back. He used his radio to call a colleague, PC Richard Van Arendonk, who told the court he arrived to find "a rather unusual situation".

"PC Harry looked up and said, 'I'm glad you've arrived, would you mind getting this off my back'," he said. "I walked up to him and saw a lizard in a vertical position by his ear. Then Wallace ran past, shouting obscenities at me and screaming 'My Iggy, my Iggy.' She tried to cuddle the iguana but ended up falling over and nearly squashing it."

Wallace said that she would never throw Igwig and claimed that he must have jumped. She told the magistrates: "He's my friend. He probably jumped in defence of me - he's done that before. When we went to the pub, I asked for extra vegetables for Igwig. I've had him for three-and-a-half years and he sleeps in a rolled-up towel on my bed."

The bench, which heard that Igwig turned brown with unhappiness after his evening out, either because of the throwing or because he missed his owner after being confiscated, found Wallace guilty.

But the chairwoman, Sally Crocker, told her: "We don't consider that in normal circumstances your care of Igwig is in any way wrong. It was taking him into licensed premises which was inappropriate behaviour."

Wallace will be sentenced in April, but meanwhile, to her delight, the iguana was returned to her care.

She told Mrs Crocker: "Oh thank you, thank you, the Igwig needs me," before hoisting him out of his tank and on to her shoulders as she left the court.