This chilling shot shows a young fox crouching on a bedroom windowsill after sneaking into a young mother’s home through open French doors.
Aine Morrow, 31, said the urban pest snuck into her home while her parents were visiting last summer and was totally fearless.
Her father Gerald McGivern, in his late 60s, looked up from watching television to see the skinny fox brazenly staring at him.
It darted upstairs and onto the windowsill in Aine and husband Stephen’s bedroom before Gerald eventually managed to chase it out through the front door.
He took the photo as proof of the incredible episode, but did not tell Aine, who was pregnant at the time, for a few days to avoid upsetting her.
The mum-of-one, whose son Shane is six months old, said she was horrified when she read of the fox attack on twins Lola and Isabella Koupparis in East London on June 5.
Aine, a teacher from Ruislip, Middlesex, said: As soon as the story about the attack on the babies broke, my mind was cast back to that picture.
It is any parent’s worst nightmare. I was heavily pregnant at the time it was taken and it totally horrified me.
My dad said the fox wasn’t aggresive but he couldn’t believe how brave it was. It didn’t show any fear at all.
Now I have had a baby and the French doors are never open, I dare not risk it.
A few of my neighbours have said it’s been in their houses trying to get into the kitchens.
The image was taken last July but Aine said she continues to see it around in the garden from time to time.