A giant spider that is baffling experts has gone missing in a town, freaking out the locals.
Jim Dodds, 53, says he has to check under his pillow before going to bed at night after the eight-inch creepy crawly appeared in his garden.
He thought his ordeal was over when he managed to trap it in a plastic box.
But after a day and a half trying to get an expert to examine it, the spider had escaped and vanished.
Jim said: “It was massive and horrendous.”
He added: “I don’t want to wake up in the morning and find it in my bathroom. If I spot it, I’m running.”
Jim and wife Helen, 51, of Tetbury, Glos, managed to take a picture of the spider last Sunday, before it got away.
Sitting in a huge, dusty web, it has long pincers and legs and a fat abdomen.
Experts are struggling to identify it as its markings are not visible in the snap.
Nottingham Trent University biology professor Chris Terrell-Nield said: “I suspect it is tropical or Australasian – likely an escapee from a collection.”
He added: “I recommend it is only dealt with by an expert. All spiders are venomous and some of the species in this group have a nasty bite.”
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