A Hampshire woman may have died due to a bite from a venomous false widow spider

Investigations are underway into the death of Pat Gough-Irwin, 60, who fell ill in October shortly after being bitten on a finger by the arachnid.

In a public Facebook post her daughter Julia Lungley, 43, wrote her mother had to have part of her finger amputated earlier this month after enduring weeks of agony.

Mrs Gough-Irwin, of Aldershot, then died on November 7 at Frimley Park Hospital and no cause of death has yet been established.

Investigations are ongoing to establish whether the bite, which while painful is not usually life-threatening, contributed to Mrs Gough-Irwin’s death.

A spokesman for both the Hampshire and Surrey coroner's offices said neither had received referral or notification of the death.

So far Frimley Park Hospital, where Mrs Gough-Irwin first attended with the bite, have not commented on the death.

But Rushmoor Borough Council’s environmental health manager Helen Lolley has confirmed the hospital is carrying out an investigation and is reassuring the public that such spider bites are “extremely rare”.

She added that although false widows were venomous, their bites were usually no worse than a wasp or bee sting, stressing nonetheless that anyone who experienced lasting effects of a bite should seek medical assistance.