A splash of milk and a spoonful of sugar is all you need to make a good old cuppa, but one woman was left horrified when she discovered she had been sipping tea laced with creepy crawlies – for more than a week.

Maureen Naughton had been feeling a little queasy and was suffering from splitting headaches for a few days after popping out for a pint of milk and a couple of bags of sugar from Tesco in Fortune Green Road, Fortune Green.

But it was only when she put her glasses on and peered into the sugar bowl that she realised the sweetener was teaming with clear white insects.

The 58-year-old said; “When I put my glasses in to check I went, ‘Oh my God!’ All of these creepy crawlies were just coming out of the sugar bowl.

“I was in terrible shock and I was just thinking to myself, ‘how long have I been drinking these creepy crawlies in my tea?’

“I was in a terrible state and I have not been feeling well for a while with a headache.”

But the ordeal did not end there for Ms Naughton.

She opened her cupboard to find the pests, which look a little like flour mites, had found their way onto her food and some valuable medication stored there. She was forced to throw it all out.

Ms Naughton, of Fortune Green Road in Fortune Green, fled to seek sanctuary at her daughter’s home in Finchley Road before realising her daughter was away at university and in her haste had locked herself out of her home.

A spokeswoman from Tesco said: “We are sorry to hear about this matter, and if the customer is able to return to the product to store, we will urgently investigate this with the supplier of this product.”