The warm, wet summer we’ve had this year has attracted extremely high numbers of spiders. Most of these are scary as hell, but relatively harmless. That said, there are some among their numbers that are out for blood, and whose bit can put you in hospital looking like you’ve just mistaken drain cleaner for aftershave. This time, they are in your homes, not just your Waitrose delivery.

Sunil Dade was bitten by something nasty whilst he was taking in his washing one afternoon in West-London. He spent two days in agony before eventually going in to his GP to find out that what had bitten him was most likely a false widow spider, which have been among the species increasing in number at this time of year. As you can see from the photos, the bite did a number on his neck, leaving him with massive tissue damage even eight days after the initial bite (as pictured below.)

They’re known to crawl onto your head and bite you while you sleep.

Sleep well.