A massive spider - thought to be the largest species in Britain - has been found in a bedroom in Kent.

Dean Rogers, from Chatham, was doing his washing when he got a nasty, eight-legged surprise.

Mr Rogers said: "I found it in a pile of washing in my bedroom I was about to do. I picked up the clothes and out fell what I thought was a dead bumble bee on its back.

"I touched it with my finger and flipped back on its legs and reared up.

"It was nearly 3 inches I would have said, certainly the biggest spider I have seen in my lifetime.

"The back of it body was as big as a thumbnail.

"It was that big even my cat didn't go near it. I got a glass and put it over it and dropped the spider out of the window. I wouldn't kill them but don't want then in my flat."

Mr Rogers' discovery comes after a Maidstone man got a fright when he spotted a huge spider in his garden.

James Sangster had just returned from a dog walk and was chatting to his wife at their Harrietsham home, when she suddenly told him to step forward.

Mr Sangster, who describes himself as petrified of spiders, said he was shocked by the size of the brazen arachnid which was perched on a wall.

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The father-of-one, who lives in Alexander Road, said: “My wife and I spent 2 years in Texas where the feared Brown Recluse spider is found, we only ever saw one but this chap scared me more as he was so large and different to others we’d seen before.”

Experts at the Kent Wildlife Trust, based in Maidstone, say it could have been a tube-web spider, also known as Segestria Florentina. The species preys on the feared false widow and is the largest found in the UK.

"I was a little gung-ho and sprayed it about 12 times, but it just walked back up the wall” - James Sangster

Resident arachnologist, Greg Hitchcock, said: “I can’t be 100% certain as it is a bit squashed and damp and the features we usually look for are not evident because of this, though it does look like it has a greenish shine to the jaws and this is one feature of the tube-web spider.”

Mr Sangster, 32, added: “We stood there in shock for a few moments not knowing what to do. Now bearing in mind my phobia of spiders my initial reaction was to get the large candle torch and have a closer look at it, so that's what we did.

"We agreed it was not a spider we had come across before so I went to our garden shed and picked up my commercial strength spider killer. Usually this works within about 30 seconds and one spray is usually enough. On this occasion I was a little gung-ho and sprayed about 12 times. It just walked up the wall towards the fascia on the roof.

"We have an 18-month-old so and I was growing increasingly concerned so I grabbed an even stronger spider killing spray but it was too high to reach."

After several attempted sprays and many anxious minutes waiting, the strong spider prevailed but Mr Sangster eventually squashed it using a hefty garden chair.

It's not the first time a tube-web spider has been spotted in Kent. Last year amateur photographer, Matthew Field, captured footage of the species in his Whitstable back garden.

Mr Field, who said the creature measured at three-and-a-half to five inches in diameter, thought it was a mouse spider.

The 42-year-old said he was "startled" when he first found the arachnid but let it stay in his garden while he listened to the radio.

He filmed this short video of the spider taking a tour round his garden.