The family had left open their back door to let in a breeze on a summer night. The idea of London families now having to lock up for fear of attack by a wild animal raised concerns last night.

It is the third time since last summer that a fox has attacked a sleeping child at home in the South East. Urban foxes are believed to have become less wary of humans in the search for food.

The parents of Jessica Brown, the latest victim, claim that the fox’s lair is in the overgrown garden of a neighbouring house managed by Islington Council, to which they repeatedly complained after foxes went through their rubbish. The council is now planning to clear the garden today in Tufnell Park after specialist advice.

Jessica’s father Richard, 36, an English teacher, said: “We left the back door open as we often do in the summer to let a draught through. We heard a loud cry from Jessica’s room and my wife dashed up and screamed at me to come upstairs. She was shouting that there was a large cat in the room and then she said, ‘No, no, it’s a fox’.

“Jessica was hysterical. She said she felt something biting her arm, but I don’t think she saw what it was. My wife saw it as it came out of Jessica’s bedroom. It ran from there up to the top floor of the house. I put the lights on, which dazed it a bit and then it slunk downstairs to the bathroom and it was on the window ledge but obviously realised it couldn’t jump from that height.

“From there I cajoled it to the ground floor and it shot out of the house the way it came in. It was a mangy looking fox, in bad condition.

“I went back upstairs and saw Jessica’s arm, which had big U-shaped teeth marks on it. The skin was broken, which was worrying, and there was blood. She was traumatised by it but she has recovered well.

“We don’t leave the back door open any more.”

His wife Corinne, who teaches French, added: “When I got up the stairs the fox was coming out of Jessica’s bedroom and she was screaming and then I saw the bite on her arm and there was blood. Thankfully it was not too bad and had only just punctured the skin.”

Jessica was taken to the Whittington hospital after the attack on Sunday night. Antiseptic was put on the bite and she was given antibiotics.

Mr Brown thought that the fox may have been attracted by the smell of roast chicken the family had eaten earlier in the day: “We have had problems with foxes in the garden going through the rubbish for years but never have they come into the house before.”

Councillor Jyoti Vaja, executive member for housing and community safety at Islington council, said: “I was shocked to hear what had happened and I wish Jessica well. It is a very unusual occurrence. We are arranging to have the garden cleared as soon as possible and are taking advice on dealing with urban foxes.”

In July last year a fox is believed to have attacked a baby boy, cutting his head as he lay asleep next to his mother at Dartford, Kent. It was shot dead after it kept returning and prowling around the back garden. In July this year a fox attacked a girl aged nine in Sidcup, South London. The horrified girl woke to find the animal baring its teeth at the end of her bed. The fox bit her several times on her feet.

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