‘I got a hole in my leg after I was bitten by a false widow spider outside Asda’

A man ‘bitten by a false widow spider’ outside Asda was left with a 4cm hole in his leg and described being in “nine out of ten” pain. It took Michael Wilkinson two months to recover and said “it could have been life-threatening”.

The 38-year-old said within 40 minutes it looked like he had “a big boil” on his legs and a hole later emerged in the centre of his reddened, inflamed skin. Michael said he experienced “throbbing pain” and claimed he found a spider leg stuck in the hole, which he used tweezers to remove.

The wound then became infected, requiring a trip to his GP, who prescribed antibiotics and painkillers. Michael said he’d been told he could have got sepsis had it been left untreated, adding “I was lucky.”

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Michael, from High Wycombe, said: “I was sat on a wall outside Asda and I flicked a spider off my leg. As it ran off into a bush I saw the distinctive white band on the abdomen and recognised it as a false widow. Just 40 minutes later I noticed swelling on my leg and a hole appearing in the middle. It got bigger and bigger and soon there was pus coming out.

“The pain came later on that day and it got worse and worse – over the next days I had problems walking and couldn’t sleep because of it. Thankfully I got antibiotics quickly but I was told it could have caused sepsis if it was left untreated. I was never that keen on spiders before, but now I always look around to spot the markings.”

Michael, who is not currently working due to a spine condition, said being bitten on September 23 left him with “extreme” pain. He said: “It was extremely painful – a nine out of ten – and it gave me trouble sleeping. If I walked round on it, it would start bleeding or discharge would come out. I kept having to wash my clothes because of it.”

A month on, it had started to heal – but the infection was so deep that he was prescribed a further month of antibiotics to tackle it and has only recently recovered. Michael said he wanted to warn others to look out for false widow spiders in the UK, and not to underestimate the dangers.

Confirmed cases of false widow bites in the UK are rare, according to experts. Only the two larger species of false widow, the cupboard spider and the noble false widow, are likely to be able to bite through human skin at all.

Michael said: “I was lucky I didn’t get sepsis. It could have been life-threatening. I never imagined it would happen to me. I’ve seen stories in the news, but you never think anything like that will happen to you – until it does.”