There's a scorpion in my suitcase! Family return from holiday in Spain to find four-inch Deathstalker in their luggage

Species of scorpion is second most venomous in the world

It had been inside the case in Theresa Jayes' bedroom for a month before her daughter Hollie found it

Deathstalkers can become aggressive when kept in captivity

The anti-venom is not widely available and stings are hard to treat



A family were shocked when they returned home from a holiday to Spain and found a deadly scorpion hiding in their suitcase.



Hollie Jayes, 18, found the Deathstalker scorpion - the second most venomous species in the world - crawling inside her mother’s luggage at their home in Skegness, Lincolnshire.

Theresa Jayes, 43, had emptied the suitcase of her clothes and left it in her bedroom without noticing the 10cm-long (four-inch) creepy crawly inside.

Venomous: The poisonous Deathstalker scorpion found in a suitcase after a family holiday to a Spanish village

It was only when her travel agent daughter went to borrow her mother's suitcase for a trip to see a friend on Saturday that the creature was discovered.



The yellow scorpion - which is more commonly found in Egypt - had crept inside the luggage while Mrs Jayes was on holiday in the tiny village of Santa Peta in Andalucia with her 12-year-old son David last month.



Her daughter said: ' I was getting ready to go out with a friend and I needed to pack some stuff to stay at hers.



'I walked over and opened the case and just saw this thing on the top of everything in there.



Roommate from hell: Holly Jayes and her mother Theresa were horrified when they found the 10cm creature, which had been hiding in their luggage for a month

'I thought it was a spider so I screamed and slammed the case shut.

'After I calmed down, me and my friend picked up a coat hanger and opened the case and we realised it was a scorpion.



'We both screamed and slammed the case shut and threw it into the bathroom, there was a lot of shouting and shaking.



'I called my dad and shouted down the phone that he needed to come home because there was a scorpion in the case.



Creepy-crawly case: The Deathstalker is the second deadliest scorpion in the world and there is no anti-venom for its sting in the UK



IS THE DEATHSTALKER AS DANGEROUS AS IT SOUNDS?

The yellow scorpion, or Deathstalker, is highly dangerous and capable of inflicting extraordinarily painful stings.

It normally would not kill an otherwise healthy adult human, but young children, the elderly and people with conditions such as heart problems or allergies are at much greater risk.

A sting can cause anaphylaxis, a potentially life-threatening reaction, and the venom is very resistant to drugs. The anti-venom is mainly available in Arabic countries where the scorpion is usually found.

The Deathstalker is usually 3-4 inches long and could be mistaken for a toy because of its spindly legs and rubbery looking yellow or green exterior.

It can be a very aggressive type of scorpion and tends to get very nervous and agitated in captivity.

'He didn’t believe me at all but I insisted.



'When him and my mum came home, we straightened out the coat hanger and nudged open the case and they saw it and jumped as well.

'My dad threw the case into the garden and for some reason my mum decided the best thing to do was call London Zoo.

'They said they couldn’t do anything, so eventually we called the RSPCA and they came and picked it up. They told us eventually it was called a Deathstalker.

'I was terrified when I opened the case, I’ve never seen a scorpion before.



'The RSPCA gave us the case back and told us to make sure it hadn’t laid any eggs in it.'



Mrs Jayes, who sells window blinds, added: 'My husband was at the fish counter in Morrisons buying some mussels and he got a phone call from two girls screaming about a scorpion.



'He said to me "we can’t go home, there’s a scorpion in the house" and laughed because we thought it must be an earwig or something.



'When we got home we found my son David stood on the landing with an empty wine bottle ready to bop it on the head if needs be.



'When we saw it we were quite naive because we thought it must be some common thing, not dangerous, but it turns out it’s the second most deadly in the world and there’s no anti-venom in this country.