The parents of twin baby girls badly injured in a fox attack as they slept recounted yesterday their horror at discovering the animal, which had crept into their daughters' bedroom.

Lola and Isabella Koupparis, who are nine months old, suffered serious arm and face injuries in the attack in Britain last month and were hospitalised. They are now likely to be scarred for life. The fox is thought to have entered through a ground-floor door which had been left open due to the warm weather, and made its way upstairs in the family home in Stoke Newington, London.

In what is being billed as their first full interview, screened by the BBC, the girls' parents Nick and Pauline told of the moment they rushed upstairs to the bedroom after hearing their babies screaming.

"I sort of lunged at it and it didn't even move. And I was just screaming and the girls were crying and Nick lunged a few times, and the fox was sort of moving a foot at a time," Pauline Koupparis said, adding,"I picked up Lola, and Nick had picked up Isabella. Her arm was open and bits of her flesh were literally, like, just dropping on to his leg. It looked like it had been through a cheese grater."

Nick Koupparis said, "I came out on to the landing. I had Isabella in my arms and the fox was sat at the top of the stairs as if it was a family pet or as if nothing had happened. I knew Isabella was bleeding a lot by that stage. I could feel the blood seeping through her babygro (bodysuit) and I threw whatever came to hand at the fox. It then scarpered down the stairs".