Victim survives deadly spider bite in Kentish Town

Londoner Don Forrester survived the venomous bite of a redback spider in Australia and recovered from the deadly sting of a box jellyfish.

But the last thing he expected on his return was to be left near death by a poisonous spider in Kentish Town.

The former journalist was rushed to hospital in intense pain when his right hand swelled to five times its normal size. He said it "looked like a balloon" an hour after he was bitten as he laid decking for a friend.

At first he thought the sudden pain was caused by a splinter. But seconds afterwards he saw two unusual brown, hairy spiders with yellow stripes on their backs scurrying away.

Three days later he began to feel faint in a pub. Friends called an ambulance and he was taken to the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead. Doctors discovered Mr Forrester, 62, had dangerously low blood pressure. He was kept on an antibiotic drip overnight and is still taking 11 different tablets a day.

He said today the pain was "intense" and praised his friends' swift action. "The boys took one look and got an ambulance," he said.

"Without them I'd probably be dead. I was probably able to fight this off as I'm fit. But an elderly or sick person without that level of resistance might not have made it."

The Natural History Museum said spider bites in
the UK "number in the tens or hundreds annually" and are believed to be increasing — possibly due to a rise in some exotic species here.