A mother felt “violated” after someone defecated outside her flat – before cleaning themselves up with a dishrag and leaving it on her front doorstep.

Elizabeth Burgess, of Whitmore House, East Crescent, New Southgate, felt sick when she opened her front door to find fresh human faeces on the hand-carved decorative table she keeps outside.

To make matters worse, the mystery culprit attempted to clean him or herself up using a towel and dumped it on her ‘welcome’ mat.

The 61-year-old had spent the day in bed with back pain, and when her neighbours alerted her to the mess, she said she felt “frantic”.

She said: “I thought, oh what a dirty devil. It was stinking to high heaven. The smell hit me, it was so pungent and rancid. It made me want to vomit.

“It was the most revolting thing I have ever seen. It totally knocked me and my neighbours for six.

“Whoever did it needs a slap. How dare they come and sit on my table to do their business? I’ve never seen anything like that outside my front door before.”

Former dinner-lady Ms Burgess rang the police, who assured her it was not a targeted attack and it was likely done by someone with mental health problems.

But she admitted the incident has left her “petrified” to leave her house.

She added: “The way I feel now is sheer disgust. I feel violated. They invaded my personal space. People keep reassuring me not to take it personally, but I have.

“I’ve cried my eyes out all week. I feel someone did this on purpose, that they are trying to tell me something.

“I’ve got no answers, I don’t know who did this to me.”