An elderly couple were alarmed to find a potentially dangerous spider crawling on their bedroom wall.

James and Lillian Brady of Sussex Road, East Ham, had the creepy encounter on Thursday morning last week after seeing stories about the false widow spider in the media.

The couple thought the spider in their house matched the descriptions they had read.

Mrs Brady said: “It was the one they keep showing with a picture on its back like a skull head. It was crawling up the wall.”

There have been various sightings in recent months of the so-called false widow spider, whose bite can kill people who are allergic to its venom.

Mr Brady, 82, managed to get the intruding arachnid into a glass and called pest control to ask for advice.

He said: “They said by the sound of it it’s the spider we thought it would be.

“They said it might sting you, but that it’s not that dangerous.”

A friend of the Bradys disposed of the spider by taking it outside later that day.

Mr Brady said: “They took it out to Essex somewhere. Somewhere away from me!”

He added that people should be on the lookout for more false widows.

“They are out and about. There must be more around somewhere.”

Experts have advised people not to try to catch a spider they think is a false widow.

Tony Wileman, a conservation ecologist at the London Wildlife Trust, said most spider bites come from trying to catch them but if people must remove it from their home, they should use a jar and stick or pencil and avoid using their hands.