Massive false widow spider ‘with SKULL on its back’ found in horrified family’s bathroom

"My partner was petrified but I took it to Kirkley cemetery and set it free."

Kelly, who is currently having her house renovated, thinks the spider may have come out of the chimney stack which is next to the downstairs bathroom.

She said: "I think it's probably come up that way. It was dangling down underneath the cupboards when my partner found it.”

Having found the hairy beast, Kelly thinks she may have saved a life.

Kelly added: "I have a funny feeling it was a girl and she may have been pregnant.

"When they give birth, they eat their husbands so I might have even saved his life.”

Kelly said she had been scared of spiders when she was younger but overcame her fear a few years ago when she was forced to grab a “large spider” that was crawling towards her bed.

She said: "I didn't have a choice. I grabbed it because I didn't want it getting lost in my bed.

"After running around the house with it in my hands, I don't mind them as much anymore."

A Norfolk Wildlife Trust spokesman said: "Following county recorder confirmation, we can confirm this is a false widow spider, Steatoda nobilis."

CARER NEARLY LOST HAND

In October a carer nearly lost her hand after she was bitten by a false widow spider.

Morgan Curran, 21, initially shrugged off the venomous bite, thinking it was harmless.

But days later, her right hand swelled "like a boxing glove" and a £2 coin-sized black spot erupted under the knuckle on her middle finger.

Brits were warned earlier this month false widow spiders are set to invade homes as they crawl inside to escape the winter.

False widows have brownish-reddish legs and a black body emblazoned with markings that resemble a white skull.

Their bites are not fatal to humans but the venom causes painful burns and swelling and can lead to a fever.

And they're likely to be arriving in their droves because, in spite of bitter memories of an unusually bleak and overcast summer, it was actually warmer than average during June, July and August.

The comfortable temperature helped the spiders survive.

Very few people suffer serious bites from a false widow. However, some have extreme reactions, including a lab technician who suffered a flesh-eating wound five months after the initial bite.