A DAD-OF-TWO was left with a 50p-sized hole in his leg after he was bitten by a “false widow spider” as he slept.

Damian Ellis, a business owner, noticed a small painful spot just above his ankle after he was bitten in the night.

He assumed it was a midge bite but over the next 24 hours, the spot became painful and inflamed.

It later swelled up to the size of a large boil with an oozing centre.

Mr Ellis, 44, from Droylsden in Greater Manchester, said: “One of my friends looked at it the next day and said it was a spider bite – I just laughed it off.

“But it got more and more inflamed and I had a constant burning feeling in my leg.

“It was just like when you have a very painful blister, you knock the top off it and the air first hits it.

“I looked up my symptoms and saw pictures of false widow spider bites and the redness – and it looked exactly like my leg.”

False widow spiders are the most dangerous spider species in the UK. Their bites can be very painful and leave small puncture marks on the skin.

Mr Ellis, a hydraulic hose business owner, decided to treat the wound with antiseptic cream.

He said: “I’m one of those people that tend to leave stuff like that until it gets me into trouble.

“A few days into me self-treating it the bite became the size of a 50p piece and round the edges it looked like the infection was eating my flesh as the hole got deeper and deeper.

“At that stage I did worry a little bit and start to wonder whether I should go to the doctors as it looked properly infected, but the antiseptic cream started to work and it began to heal over.”

The 44-year-old was bitten in August and said the wound has left a permanent scarring on his leg.

He added: “Spiders never really bothered me but if I see one now I’ll give it a wide berth as I’m not going through that again.”

Last week four schools in London were shut for up to a month after being infested by false widow spiders.

Two primary schools and two secondary schools were closed after Britain's most venomous spider was found on site.