Twin baby girls are being treated in hospital after they were mauled by a fox as they slept.Nine-month-olds Lola and Isabella Koupparis were attacked in their cots at around 10pm on Saturday in Homerton, east London, police said.

The fox apparently entered through a door on the ground floor which had been left open because of the heat.

The animal attacked the twins in their upstairs room as their parents, Nick and Pauline, were reportedly watching television. Their four-year-old brother, Max, who was also sleeping upstairs, was not hurt.

Police said the little girls were in a "serious but stable condition" at the Royal London Hospital. They both suffered arm wounds and one is believed to have facial injuries.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "Police were called at approximately 10pm on Saturday, June 5, to an address in Homerton E9 to reports of a fox attack. Officers and the London Ambulance Service attended and found two nine-month-old girls with injuries. Both babies were taken to an east London hospital where their condition is described as serious but stable."

After the attack, pest controllers set fox traps in the back garden. On Sunday night, a fox was discovered in one of the devices and was humanely destroyed by a vet.

The police spokesman said: "Hackney environmental health officers arranged for traps to be set in the rear garden of the address. (Last night) a neighbour informed environmental health officers that an animal could be heard in one of the traps.

"Police attended with a local authority pest controller and a fox was indeed found in a trap.

"A vet was called to establish if it was safe to move the animal. It was determined it was not and the fox was humanely killed by the pest controller at approximately 12.15am. The traps will remain in situ for the time being."