Mother finds flesh-eating spider in bed

A mother in Northampton has escaped harm after she found a flesh-eating spider in her bed.

Donna Bradbury, who suffers from arachnophobia, spotted the poisonous false widow spider on her pillow, but managed to jump out of bed before being bitten.

The 31-year-old said:

False widow spiders can cause serious injuries if they manage to bite through the skin. The venom is highly poisonous, and will eat through flesh if not removed. A number of people in Britain have also reportedly been bitten by the same species of spider this year.

The spider, which is a cousin of the black widow spider, first came to the country 100 years ago, in crates of fruit from the Canary Islands.

The Insect Information Service at the Natural History Museum receives news of about 10 spider bite cases each year, although no-one in the UK has ever died as the result of a bite.