A MAN thinks he could have found one of the world’s most venomous creepy crawlies – nesting in a bin.

Jon Forster, 28, of Queen’s Park Road, Brighton, discovered what he thought was an Australian redback spider and its babies after taking out the rubbish on Monday night.

Mr Forster believes his eight-legged guest, which can have a fatal bite, could have found its way to Britain in banana imports. He said: “I removed the bin bag from my recycle bin and found it nesting.

“After taking the bin outside and turning it over, I found five more large ones, four babies and a handful of eggs.

“I posted them on Facebook for a laugh but I got comments saying that they were redback spiders and that one bite could be very dangerous.

"I thought they looked pretty cool until I found out that they could be so lethal. My partner on the other hand was very scared.

“I did what every man would do in that situation. I put the bin outside and went to the pub.”

However, Drusillas Park spider expert Angela Hale said the spider looked like a false widow.

She said: “Redbacks have a very definite bright red stripe down their back. This guy looks like he is rusty brown all over his abdomen.”

The two species of false widow, the steatoda nobilis and steatoda grossa, are believed to have been introduced to south-west England in the 19th century.

Although not as fearsome as the redback, the false widow has a reputation as dishing out one of the nastiest bites in Britain. But Jess Price, of the Sussex Wildlife Trust, reassured creepy crawly cowards that they are not as troublesome as their reputation may suggest.

She said: “False widow bites are usually no worse than a bee or wasp sting. However, some people can have a more severe reaction to steatoda nobilis, including swelling and numbness.”