A DAD who found a "cool-looking" spider in his family home was horrified to discover it could be a dangerous black widow.

Lee Treadwell spotted two of the creatures in a cupboard at his house in Leybourne Avenue this week.

He said they may have crawled in as there's a warm pipe in the cupboard.

"I spotted this spider on the floor," he said.

"It was jet black and there were about 15 dead woodlice around it. I took a photo of it and covered it so it couldn't run away.

"There was another, smaller one just like it there too.

"It was quite a cool-looking spider, and I'd never seen anything quite like it before, so I searched for it online.

"The first thing that came up was that it was a black widow and deadlier than a rattlesnake.

"I thought, 'b****y hell'.

"As soon as I read it I knew I had to get rid of it. I flattened it with a hammer.

"Anyone would have done the same. I've got kids in the house and it's just not worth the risk."

Female black widows have an unusually potent venom. However, their bites are rarely fatal to adults, despite their reputation.

They thrive in temperature climates.

False widow spiders are significantly more common in the UK. They closely resemble black widows, and can inflict painful bites, but are generally not thought of as dangerous.

Lee said: "If it is a black widow, that's crazy - I wondered if climate change might have something to do with it.

"The bigger one was around a centimetre and a half long, so it was pretty big."

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