AN Evesham man has been bitten by the UK’s most venomous spider while asleep in bed after the eight-legged beasts made a nest under the floor of his home.

The man, who doesn’t wish to be named, had just returned from Australia, home to some of the world’s deadliest spiders, when he was bitten by what is thought to be a false widow spider at home in Fairfield.

He was rushed to the town’s community hospital as the spider’s poison visibly travelled up his arm. Evesham Community Hospital said it had treated a number of suspected cases of spider bites in recent weeks The 23-year-old’s sister said: “He had to go to hospital and have a shot. Apparently it was the third case at Evesham hospital that week. He is quite a big lad and it turned into an ulcer on his bicep.

“Then a red line went up his arm and into his armpit.

It was the venom going up. It is horrible. It is quite scary.

You can lose limbs.”

His father said that after the spider bite they searched the house and discovered a nest.

He said: “We found 18 of them.

They have a big hump on their neck and red or white dots on their back. Nasty things. The bite was the size of a penny and raised with a big blister covering it.”

The false widow gets its name because of its general resemblance to the notorious black widow.

Wendy Carter, from the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust asked people to remove the spiders from their home humanely.