A SALISBURY market trader spent three agonising days in hospital after being bitten by a venomous spider as he was preparing his stall for the day's trading.

The spider, closely related to the deadly black widow, scuttled away to safety at Salisbury's livestock market in Netherhampton Road, after biting Jason Fricker three times.

Mr Fricker, 34, who runs a fishing tackle stall at the livestock market, spent three days in hospital in Dorchester being treated for a suspected heart seizure after being bitten by a false widow spider.

After initial treatment at the hospital as an outpatient, Mr Fricker was re-admitted a day later as an emergency after doctors suspected the venom was attacking his nervous system and could cause a heart attack.

Mr Fricker, who runs Revel Coarse Fishery and Tackle shop, at Revel Lake, between Dorchester and Sherborne, was setting up his stall and carrying angling goods in a cardboard box from his van to the stall when, he believes, the spider crawled out of the box and went down the front of his shirt.

He said: "Five minutes later I felt this sort of burning sensation on my chest, like a wasp sting. I shook my jumper and the spider fell down onto my stomach.

"Then it must have bitten me again and I saw this spider fall to the ground and scuttle off into the market."

Mr Fricker thought nothing more about it until the next day, when he felt unwell.

His wife, Katie, spotted the bites and he went to his doctor, who recognised the puncture wounds as a spider bite.

Mr Fricker was given anti-histamine tablets but, the following day, his condition worsened and he thought he was having a heart attack.

He was kept in hospital, where doctors believed he may have been having a heart seizure caused by an extreme reaction to the bite.

Mr Fricker was released three days later, and is now back home in Dorchester recuperating.

Experts say, in the majority of cases, the false widow's bite is no more painful or more serious than a wasp sting, but some people can suffer a severe reaction.