If it is real and actually in Manchester it most likely was a former pet that escaped. A friend of mine had a huntsman spider as a pet, left the lid of its glass cage off once, came back and the spider was gone...couldn't find it anywhere and never did. Anyway, huntsmen are know to enter human homes when it is about to rain to seek shelter, so if it was anywhere in the UK, you can bet it will be inside a house 24/7.
If it wasn't a former pet then it clearly go off a ship during a heat wave, fooling the spider into thinking that GB was a prefect place to live, he was in for a nasty surprise a week later when the temp. dropped 10C and the grey clouds and rain came, forcing the spider to find comfort in a family home in manchester. Depression soon set in after spending long enough eating only tiny spiders and not being able to travel outside due to the rain. Things soon got worse when he was out looking for food one day, just minding his own business when he heard a loud scream and a frantic panic of 4 humans that followed. At first he could not understand what caused these humans such distress as he scanned the room looking for the cause. "What can it be causing all this fear? I must find it an kill it, these people have been so nice to me all this time allowing me to stay here for free" He finally hit rock bottom when the fire brigade where called, the object causing the stress was in fact, Mr.Spider. He was rejected by his adopted family, the fire brigade and he just missed his family and friends back in Australia, he began wishing he never got on that boat. His mother warned him of places like the UK, "but how was I too know? It seemed so nice and sunny here when I got off, even the my pal Brown Back got off here, wonder what happened to him, hopefully he is doing better off that I am". On his was to Manchester Zoo's arachnid house Mr.Spider was listening to the Rolling Stones' 'Slave' and the song alone made him feel much better and less anxious about fitting in and making friends at the arachnid house, "maybe Brown Back is at the house as well, here hoping" Mr.Spider thought to himself. You can understand his anger when the driver switched on BBC news at 6, sadly his anger quickly turned back to depression as the new reader reported today's headlines "A brown back spider has today been killed after a fierce battle with 3 firemen and a police officer, 2 firemen and an innocent civilian have been hospitalized but are currently stable after receiving anti-venom".
Mr. Spider was announced dead on arrival at the arachnid house, cause of death was severe depression and a broken heart.