Holidaymaker Gemma Cox brought an unusual souvenir back from her Greek holiday - a stowaway with a real sting in its tail.

Gemma, an administrator, unwittingly packed a pregnant European Scorpion in her luggage before stepping on a flight home from Kos.

The creature then made itself at home in the bedroom of Gemma's Uckfield home for two days without being spotted.

She had dumped her suitcase on her floor after a two-week break on the Greek island with friends.

She then went to sit down near the unpacked case to watch the England v Brazil World Cup match.

Gemma, 19, from Ironstone Way, said: "I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye. Something ran across the floor about 30cm from my knee."

She thought that it was a spider as it scuttled away and hid under a flap of the suitcase on the floor.

She looked under the flap and was stunned when she spotted the sandy coloured scorpion.

She said: "I panicked a bit and called my mother up. I said I had a scorpion in my room but she thought I was joking."

Gemma took another look at the beast - 2in long with its stinging tail in the air.

Eventually her mum, Joy, went upstairs and was astonished to see the arachnid.

Mrs Cox took on the challenge of catching it in a glass.

Gemma said: "I leave these sorts of things to my parents."

Mrs Cox called the RSPCA, a variety of government offices and the police before being told to contact Drusilla's Park zoo, near Alfriston.

Experts there told her to take the creature to them.

Gemma said: "It's a good job I found it when I did because they said she was pregnant. In a few more days I could have been sharing my room with lots of scorpions."