Animal lover Sara Nathan was in for a fright in the early hours of this morning when, a four-legged bushy-tailed visitor popped into her Bushey home.

Just as she was settling off to sleep, the mother-of-two was disturbed by her two dogs Mutley and Mickey, and cats Spartapuss and Cleo making a racket in the bathroom.

Thinking she was being burgled, she checked her children Max and Zak were safe in their bedrooms and then went to inspect the source of the noise.

After ushering her dogs out, she discovered, to her horror, she said, a fox sitting bold as brass on the bathroom window.

The 40-year-old, of Cotswold Avenue, said: "I couldn’t believe it, I screamed my head off when I saw him sitting there.

"It really made me jump, I went and got a bucket to try and take it out of there, but I couldn’t.

"I called the RSPCA but was advised to call Environmental Health, but couldn’t get through.

"So in the end I called the police on the non-emergency number 101. They suggested I close all the doors, calm the animals down and wait for the fox to leave of its own accord. And by the next morning it was gone. I think it got in and left through the cat flap.

"I love animals. I’m one of those people that always takes them in when people don’t want them, but unfortunately, that doesn’t extend to foxes."