An elderly woman was bitten three times and had her finger broken in a terrifying attack by a FOX that crept into her home as she read the newspaper.
Gill McMahon, 77, was enjoying a morning coffee in her lounge when she felt a “sharp pain” in her finger – and looked down to see the creature had its jaws clamped down on her hand.
Screaming, she jumping up and flailed her arm to make the animal loosen its grip, only for it to bite her on the other hand and foot.
Her finger “profusely bleeding”, the terrified pensioner eventually managed to chase the predator away and ran to get her son, who rushed her to hospital.
Mrs McMahon said: “I felt a sharp pain in my hand on my middle finger.
“I looked down and there was a fox hanging onto it. I leapt up and started screaming. It seemed like forever.
“Finally he dropped off and bit my other hand. I must have tried to hit him.”
Mrs McMahon said the animal also bit her on the foot.
She added: “I thought I was in some sort of nightmare. The only thought that went through my head was, ‘What do I do if it doesn’t let go?’ It really hurt.”
The animal, which had come in through some open french windows, then ran into her dining room.
The great-grandmother-of-five said: “It just sort of stood there looking at me. I went in a shooed it away.
“Nobody heard me scream. I ran and woke up my son. He got some towels because I was bleeding profusely.”
Startled Christopher McMahon, who was staying with his mother while on holiday, drove her straight to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.
She said: “When I got to hospital, I felt I was living in some sort of fantasy world.
“It broke one of the bones in my finger. They gave me a tetanus jab, antibiotics and spent quite a lot of time cleaning up the wound and giving me stitches.”
The retired mother-of-two, who has three grandchildren, had to have her nail removed due to risk of infection.
She has returned to hospital twice since the attack, which happened at her home in Little Chesterford, Essex, at around 8.30am on July 22.
A physiotherapist has given her exercises to do in order to get the movement back in her finger.
The retiree has spent most of her life travelling the world with her husband Anthony McMahon, who worked in the diplomatic service.
The pair stayed in locations including Turkey, Russia, Pakistan and Honduras.
She said: “I’ve lived in some pretty wild places and this is the strangest thing that’s ever happened to me, at least in regards to wildlife.”
