The parents of a toddler bitten by a fox tonight described him as a "brave little boy" who was recovering well from his ordeal.

Three-year-old Jake Jermy was bitten on the arm after disturbing a fox hiding beneath a temporary building while at a party in Brighton, East Sussex.

It happened at the Dorothy Stringer playgroup, next to a high school - and just a fortnight after twins were mauled by a fox in Hackney, east London.

Jake was taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton where he was treated and released following the attack at mid-day on Saturday, Sussex Police said.

In a statement last night, his parents, Sam and Jacqui Jermy, both 35, said: "Jake was attending a private party at the Dorothy Stringer nursery on Saturday and was playing in the playground area.

"Jake told us he was going to get a ball from under one of the sheds. Jake, I'm sure, disturbed the fox and the fox responded and bit him.

"Since then he has recovered really well and is in really good spirits and is a brave little boy. We don't feel there is anything else to be said."

Officials at the playgroup, which has been operating for more than 35 years, said they had been aware of foxes in the area for "some time".

It was closed yesterday and staff were awaiting the arrival of a pest control company as officials said their temporary building was due to be demolished to make way for a new building within weeks.

The incident comes a fortnight after nine-month-old twins Isabella and Lola Koupparis were attacked after a fox crept into their upstairs bedroom in Hackney.

It is thought to have got in through a door on the ground floor of the smart three-storey house, which was left open because of the hot weather, while the children's parents watched Britain's Got Talent on television.

Both girls have since been discharged from hospital. The twins' four-year-old brother, Max, who was also sleeping upstairs, was not hurt in the attack.

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