Mother tells of living nightmare as fox mauls baby twins in cots

Nine-month-olds Lola and Isabella Koupparis were attacked in their cots at around 10pm on Saturday night in Homerton, east London.

Police said the little girls were in a "serious but stable condition" at the Royal London Hospital.

They both suffered arm wounds and one is believed to have facial injuries.

Ms Koupparis described the incident as "like a living nightmare". She told radio station BBC London: "It's something I would never expect to happen to anybody, let alone happen to my beautiful girls."

She had been watching Britain's Got Talent on television when she heard the girls crying, she said.

"I went into the room and I saw some blood on Isabella's cot," she said. "I thought she'd had a nosebleed.

"I put on the light and I saw a fox and it wasn't even scared of me, it just looked me straight in the eye."

The infants were covered in blood and crying and she and her husband were "hysterical", she added.

Both girls have undergone surgery, she said.

Lola, who looked "dreadful" but was doing well, had a number of facial injuries and some puncture marks on her arm and Isabella suffered injuries to her arm and was receiving special care, their mother added.

The girls' aunt, Barbara Koupparis, said: "They are OK. I really can't say anything."

The fox apparently entered through a door on the ground floor which had been left open because of the heat.

The animal attacked the twins in their upstairs room as their parents, Nick and Pauline, were reportedly watching television.

Their four-year-old brother, Max, who was also sleeping upstairs, was not hurt.

A shocked neighbour of the family, who knows them well, described the girls as "beautiful".

The woman, who lives next door but one and did not want to be named, said: "They're beautiful little babies, really beautiful.

"We've all got foxes at the bottom of our gardens. Some people have got two or three living in their garden.

"They're all as bold as brass. You walk out into the garden and you have to shoo them away."

Asked if she was worried about the safety of her own little boy, who is a similar age to the twins, she said: "Of course, it was shocking."

Michael Parra, 48, a health trainer, who has lived in the street for six years, said police had been going from house to house after the attack, warning residents not to leave their doors open.

He said: "We see a lot of foxes around here. They're always in our garden. Something should be done about them. I would love to get them out of here. They're really a nuisance and a danger. They've terrorised our garden."

He said he had complained about the fox problem to the local council but nothing had changed.

He added: "I wonder how much they can do about the situation. I think the foxes are getting bolder. They almost go up to you. I've got fearful myself. They've gone towards my dog too."

After the attack a fox was discovered in a trap in the back garden and humanely destroyed.

A police spokesman said: "The traps will remain in situ for the time being."

Hackney Council said this was the first time it had ever had a report of a fox attacking a resident.

He added: "We have never had reports in the past of foxes attacking residents. All the expert advice we have had suggests that shocking incidents like this are incredibly rare and our thoughts are with the children and their family."