Couple describe how cockroaches crawl up her legs and BITE them in infested house in Milton Keynes

Family says the housing association won't fumigate the place for them
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A family is living with cockroaches eating them alive and falling into their drinks while they save up to get the place fumigated.

Zelina Etienne-Russell and partner Reece Stones say their housing association home in Heelands is crawling with the creatures, some of them as big as a inch long.

They have found them in their food, in their six-year-old daughter's bed, and even in drinks of water they've left out overnight.

One of the biting cockroachesOne of the biting cockroaches
One of the biting cockroaches

They believe the creatures are coming in from a nearby council-owned house in the street, but have been told the tenant has refused to allow the council contractors in to deal with the problem.

Zelina's housing association is this week sending workers in to seal the gaps in a bid to stop the cockroaches getting in to the property, but the couple have been quoted £275 for a private pest control company if they want to have the entire place fumigate.

"We don't have that kind of money," said Reece, who is unemployed. " Zelina has just finished treatment for a sarcoma cancer, so she can't work either."

"It's horrible living with them. People don't think that cockroaches bite but they do. I've been covered with bites and they itch like crazy and cause a red rash."

They crawl around the houseThey crawl around the house
They crawl around the house

The bites themselves cause a large red bump, similar to a mosquito bite, said Reece,

The crunch came when one of the creatures crawled boldly up Zelina's leg while she was sitting in the living room.

"It was disgusting," she said. "But basically we have too stay here until the problem is solved, which could take a while. We don't have a while as they are taking over and spreading all over the place."

Neither housing associations not MK Council deal with cockroaches routinely free of charge. But the council offers all city residents a pest control service via its approved company SDK Environmental Ltd .

Prices start at £58 for a two bedroom house, with an additional charge of £17.50 for each extra room treated.

A council spokesman said: "To access the service please contact our contractor DialAPest, which is part of SDK Environmental, and advise them that you are a resident of Milton Keynes."