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Up to 10 million of the highly venomous spiders are on the loose in Britain with dozens of new sightings being reported every day.

And Ricki Whitmore discovered first hand just how dangerous they can be.

The 39-year-old, from Collier Row, Essex, was attacked by a vicious false widow while working at a SCHOOL.

He said: "I found a nest of spiders’ in a school I was renovating.

"They were quite big, a purplish brown colour with strange markings on their back.

"I’d never seen anything like it. It was quite creepy.

"I’d never kill a spider but I needed access to the corner so I just swept them away."

At first the spiders retreated, but in scenes reminiscent of the horror flick ARACHNOPHOBIA the creatures started running back towards him.

One of the spiders then LEAPT at him as he was packing to go home and - as he tried to swipe it off - plunged its FANGS into his leg.

He added: "There was a really sharp pain and then my leg started to thob.

"I managed to get home, but by the time I arrived my thigh had swollen to twice its normal size."

Ricki's wife Carrie, 36, watched horrified as her husband staggered through the door.

She said: "He looked terrible.

"He was pale, sweating and his leg was killing him. Even our son’s Stanley, 11 and little Ricki, two, could tell something was wrong."

The couple visited a walk-in centre and Ricki was prescribed a dose of antiobiotics.

But he woke up the next morning in such agony that he couldn't move and quickly developed a fever.

He was then was rushed to Queen's Hospital in Romford and put on an antibiotic drip.

Carrie was then told that Ricki's thigh was full of POISON and had to have an operation or face the possibility of having his leg AMPUTATED.

She added: "They tried to put a drain in his thigh.

"The skin ruptured and pus oozed out. It was revolting – it smelt like someone had died."

Eventually Ricki was taken into theatre to have his leg 'scraped' and washed free of the sceptic pus.

It was a procedure he’d go on to have NINE TIMES in the following weeks.

His wife added: "Ricki’s leg was like a car crash.

"One afternoon about a week after he was in hospital, there was this awful smell.

"When I pulled back Ricki’s sheets his stitches has burst and brown pus was oozing down his thigh."

Doctors were baffled why a spider bite was causing so many problems – until Ricki gave a description that matched the false widow.

The distinctive spiders have a 'white skull' on their backs and usually only bite if they feel threatened.

Britain’s most poisonous spider, it arrived in bananas from the Canary Islands early last century, but until now has always kept itself hidden in the warmer south west of England.

Experts claim climate change has led to a surge in numbers, with the arachnids now spreading as far east as Norfolk and as far north as Birmingham.

Ricki, who still has to have a nurse visit his home every other day to change his dressings and check his wound, moved in with his brother to avoid distressing his children.

He has lost a large portion of the muscle in his thigh and will need than six months of specialist physiotherapy to be able to walk again.

After his deadly encounter, Ricki said he feels lucky to still have his leg.

He said: "I can’t work, I’m living away from my family – and all because of a spider bite.

"I’m just lucky to still have my leg - but we won’t be going on holiday to the Canaries this year!"

Ricki's escape came as a footballer was sidelined with injury after being bitten by a false widow.

Defender Steve Harris, 22, had to undergo an emergency operation after being attacked. Surgeons had to cut away the poison, leaving Steve, of Dawlish, Devon with an open wound and unable to play.

He will now miss several games for Elmore Football Club in Tiverton, Devon.

Steve said: "When I woke up I had a pain in my side - a stinging feeling. I didn't take that much notice until it started swelling and the pain got worse.

"I was in agony. I have never had pain like that before in my life. It's still very painful now.

"I still can't sleep properly and find it virtually impossible to get in and out of a car."

Although nobody has ever died from a spider bite in Britain, the false widow has now hospitalised dozens of people in the UK and medisc fear it is only a matter of time until somebody extremely allergic suffers a fatal anaphylactic shock from a bite.