Mother's horror after discovering the body of a giant six inch spider inside a bunch of Tesco bananas 

Nicola Yeomans  almost fainted when she found what is believed to be a Huntsman in her fruit

A mother-of-three was horrified to discover a huge dead spider in a bunch of bananas she had bought from Tesco.

Nicola Yeomans, 27, said she almost fainted when she found what is believed to be a Huntsman in her fruit, purchased from the store in Gorton, Manchester.

Her son Freddie, two, had eaten one of the bananas, sourced from Cameroon, for breakfast before she noticed the eight-legged corpse.

Ms Yeomans, who lives with Freddie, son Bobby, seven, and daughter Sadie, 15 months, has since sent the arachnid back to the supermarket for scientific testing. 

Tesco gave her an 80p refund, a £15 store voucher and is investigating the incident. 

She said: 'It was terrifying because I didn't know what it was. It was a monster.

'I didn't know if it was alive, or if there was another one. I wondered had it laid eggs?

'Freddie had just walked off with his and I went into a panic in case there were bits of the spider mixed in with the food. I was really worried.

'It looked absolutely disgusting. It was repulsive. It fell on the floor and I was just screaming. The kids didn't know what to think.

'Eventually I realised it wasn't alive and put it in a bowl, but I was traumatised and sick with worry.'

After returning the remaining bananas to the store, Nicola, from Denton, was offered an 80p refund, which she described as 'unsatisfactory'.

Huntsman spiders' bodies can grow to 2.8cm in length, and females can carry up to 400 eggs at a time. They feed on insects, scorpions and even bats.

The creepy-crawly does bite humans, but most healthy people will not be badly affected. The spiders also rarely survive in Britain due to the colder climate. 

Huntsman spiders' bodies can grow to 2.8cm in length, and females can carry up to 400 eggs at a time. They feed on insects, scorpions and even bats

Her son Freddie, two, had eaten one of the bananas, sourced from Cameroon, for breakfast before she noticed the eight-legged corpse

Tesco has now sent the huge spider to its specialist team for further investigation.

Nicola said: 'I brought it to the customer service desk and the girl there nearly jumped out of her skin.

'I showed them the spider and what was left of the bananas. I explained what had happened and they gave me an 80p refund but I don't think that reflects the stress I went through with three screaming kids.

'I'm not satisfied with the response at all. I believe they've frozen the spider and sent it away and it'll be six weeks before they get the results.

'It's difficult when you're trying to encourage your kids to eat healthily and you discover a massive dead spider in their breakfast.

Ms Yeomans (left), who lives with Freddie, son Bobby, seven, and daughter Sadie (right), 15 months, has since sent the arachnid back to the supermarket for scientific testing

Pictured left is Ms Yeoman's sons Bobby (left) and Freddie (right) and right is the bananas which she bought

Tesco gave her an 80p refund, a £15 store voucher and is investigating the incident. Pictured is the company's apology letter to Ms Yeoman

'I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt but I've been back and bought the same packet to discover half of the bananas are black.

'If you buy a bunch of bananas and every one you peel is like that half way through, so that out of every banana you can only take a maximum of two bites, would you be pleased?

'No, especially not if you had previously found a massive spider in them. My kids have to eat this stuff I am buying.

'I don't think I should have to keep doing my shop and getting home to find i can't eat half of it.

'It's a waste of time and money. I could keep throwing them away and not say a word, but I have every right to complain because otherwise it won't change.'

A spokesman for Tesco said: 'We sell millions of bananas every week and our growers work hard to clean and inspect all the fruit carefully, however, given the freshness of our produce this sort thing can happen on very rare occasions.

'We've apologised to Ms Yeomans and will update her on the findings of our investigation.'