A house-proud mum claims up to 500 tiny spiders turned up in her daughter's bedroom.

Full-time carer Carol Howe, 54, saw them hanging down hanging down from the bedroom ceiling last Sunday evening and crawling over her 15-year-old daughter Diane’s bed, wardrobe and chest of drawers.

The teenager has been so scared and upset that she has been unable to sleep in her room and instead sleeps in her mum’s bed while Miss Howe has been sleeping on the floor.

Mum-of-two Miss Howe, who has lived in her house in Chestnut Walk, Witham, for more than 30 years, has emptied the room and has kept the door shut in case the spiders reach the rest of the house.

See this week's Braintree and Witham Times for the full story.