Couple terrorised by false widow spiders at workplace and BOTH have been hospitalised by bites

A husband and wife are being terrorised by false widow spiders that have infested their workplace – with both being hospitalised by bites despite fumigating three times.

Philip Oakley, 58, and Olivia Yip, 38, from Hastings, East Sussex, took on an old fruit and vegetable warehouse as a workshop for their lighting design and fashion work.

The couple soon noticed that it was crawling with false widow spiders, and in the five years they’ve owned the property they have been bitten three times.

The most recent was on April 19, when Philip was nipped on his middle finger, leaving him crying in pain.

Olivia first suffered ulcerated bites on her leg and waist that needed daily hospital dressing changes in 2018 and 2019, and took months to recover.

Philip has fumigated the property every year for the last three years in a bid to get rid of the critters, but they keep coming back.

He initially brushed his most recent bite off as a splinter, but his finger soon ballooned and started throbbing painfully.

He was referred to Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead, West Sussex, where he underwent two surgeries to scoop out the infected tissue. 

Now recovering at home after a week-long stay, Philip declared he will not be ‘scared away’ by the spiders and vows to continue working there.

False widows are not the deadly spiders and although they do have a venomous bite, it is not particularly potent.

He explained: ‘We own an old fruit and vegetable warehouse that we use for work and it perhaps has false widow spiders that came over with bananas – that’s probably why we have a lot of the spiders in the building. 

‘They start as nothing. You don’t feel it, you just have what you think is a spot starting that you think you’re going to be able to squeeze and it doesn’t ever develop a head. 

‘It felt like a splinter, a little bit tender to the touch but nothing major, then it became inflamed and swelled up.

‘When it started on my finger I thought, “Oh my God here we go I’m in trouble with this”.’

Philip was then referred to hospital as the swelling and pain got worse, which eventually resulted in him having to have treatment.   

‘I had to go to A&E at about midnight on a Sunday with excruciating pain, I think the swelling was so great it was making my knuckle dislocate.

‘I was crying with pain and they gave me morphine and said I had to go to a specialist hospital for treatment.

‘It was all quite surprising really because I initially thought I was going to go to hospital and come home after an hour.’ 

Philip believes he was bitten on April 19 but it was only five days later that he went to A&E, unable to bear the pain in his finger.

The following day he said the pain was so excruciating it felt like his finger was ‘being dislocated from the swelling’ and he went back to A&E where he was given morphine. 

Philip said: ‘My finger suddenly got so swollen that it was like it couldn’t get any bigger. My finger was double the size it usually is, it was throbbing and it felt like my finger was being dislocated from the swelling.

‘On Saturday I couldn’t go to my GP so I went to A&E where they gave me some antibiotics and then the pain got worse and worse so I went back to hospital at midnight on Sunday.

‘I was crying with pain and they gave me two lots of morphine.’

Philip now does 30 minutes of physio a day in a bid to regain movement and grip in his right hand, and he hopes to be back at work next week. 

He said he’ll consider wearing gloves while in the workshop more often but urges anyone bitten by an insect to seek medical help straight away.

Philip said: ‘I would advise anyone to go on the NHS website to look up their symptoms and get them checked out.

‘I will definitely wear gloves a lot more in future and would advise others to as well, especially if you’re working in the garden or moving firewood.’