A grandmother has revealed that she shot a masked thug with a crossbow after a gang wielding machetes burst into her home after mistaking it for a drugs den.

Anji Rhys, 49, grabbed the weapon, nicknamed 'Manstopper', when the four intruders broke in to her home in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, yesterday.

The weapons fan leapt into action after they broke in while she was watching TV.

Anji Rhys, 49, grabbed the weapon, nicknamed 'Manstopper', when the four intruders broke in to her home in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, yesterday

The weapons fan leapt into action after they broke in while she was watching TV

The 49-year-old said: 'I had finished work at about nine o'clock and got home. My partner was asleep on the sofa, my 82 year old mum and my son were asleep upstairs.

'Ironically, I had put 24 hours in police custody on the television and it was 33 minutes in.

'I heard what I thought was a massive explosion and then I realised it was my front door that was being kicked in. I ran there and was met with a masked man with a hammer. He was about 6 foot 6 tall with a blue bandana hiding his face.

'I ran and grabbed my crossbow and had a little tussle with a second man who had a machete. He went to grab it , but I managed to spin and shoot him in the belly with it at close range.

'He shouted "You f****** bitch, you shot me".

'At that point he fell on me, cutting my hand with the machete.

'I tried to throw the cross bow through the window to raise the alarm but the curtains caught it like a goalie net.'

Anji Rhys, 49, shot an intruder with a crossbow nicknamed 'Manstopper' after a gang wielding machetes broke into her home in Dunstable, Bedfordshire

She said her partner managed to push away the man. He was bleeding over the floor, table and door.

Asked why she kept the Redback Pistol crossbow, she said: 'It is a home defence weapon. I am a prepper I believe you should hope for the best and prepare for the worst. I wish I had another four cross bows. It is a man stopper. It is the most powerful pistol cross bow.

'I had it loaded. I practice with it in my garden, which is 130 feet long. The bolt I shot him with was dirty because I had been using it. It was six inches long and disappeared into him.

'He had to have gone somewhere for treatment. With that and all the blood I am surprised the police have not picked him up. They must have come across him before. You don't just wake up one day and become an armed robber.'

Ms Rhys (pictured with her friend) is a weapons fan and has plenty of other weapons to defend herself with including a knife and torch she keeps by her bed

Ms Rhys, who used to be a semi-professional Thai boxer, said the gang were all white and spoke with local accents. She said: 'They were talking 'street' saying: 'Where's your grow? Where's your weed?'

'There were four of them - all masked, white and skinny - one shot down to my cellar and one to my loft looking for a weed farm.

'Obviously they didn't find anything. I don't know where they got there information wrong. I am nearly 50. I smoke it sometimes, but I don't grow it.

'They had been given some bad intelligence. They just kept shouting keep your f....... heads down. Where is your grow? '

In her statement to the police Rebecca, who works in waste management, said that when her son Dillon woken by the noise he came downstairs and threatened with garden shears.

She said: 'Ms Rhys attempted to stand and was hit on the head with the hammer the tall man was wielding. All four men were in the front room now shouting 'Keep your f****** heads down. Where's the weed? Where's the grow?

'I held up a small container with about three joints in it and said we buy it we don't grow it.

'I said this two maybe three times before the tall man paid attention. He then said if we say anything or grow any weed they would come back and kill us.'

They attempted to leave, but they could not open the front door after they had put a chain across. The gang forced Dillon, who suffered bruises during the attack, to let them out and they fled in two separate directions.

Mr Osborn-Brooks (left) stabbed Henry Vincent (right), 37, after he tried to burgle his home last week while the pensioner's wife, who has dementia, was in the property in Hither Green, south east London

Ms Rhys, who has left to her job at a college in Luton as a result of the raid, suffered injuries to her head, hand and back of her leg.

She went on: 'I am still patrolling the house. The police have taken my crossbow. I have got a knife in my pocket now.

'I am on three courses of medication - for post traumatic stress, sleeping and anti depressants.'

Ms Rhys said: 'The police said quietly 'well done.' Another said: 'F....good job.'

Since the robbery she said there has been no trouble and a neighbour has installed CCTV for them.

She said her elderly mother Lillian had slept through the whole drama.

Unlike Richard Osborn-Brooks, she was not arrested after the attack because no one had come forward to report it.

Mr Osborn-Brooks stabbed Henry Vincent, 37, after he tried to burgle his home last week while the pensioner's wife, who has dementia, was in the property in Hither Green, south east London.

Removal men are taking away belongings of pensioner Richard Osborn-Brooks who fought with a burglar at his home

He was arrested on suspicion of murder but just two days later was told he would no face no further action.

Officers did however confiscate the bow she used to defend her son and partner Rebecca McCarvel.

Ms Rhys has left her job at a call centre because injuries to her head, hand and legs.

As a survivalist, Ms Rhys has plenty of other weapons to defend herself with including a knife and torch she keeps by her bed.

A Bedfordshire police spokesperson told the Sun: 'We were called to reports of a burglary. Four men had forced entry armed with weapons. The occupant confronted the men and they fled after a short altercation.

'The victim told police she shot one intruder with a crossbow but we have so far been unable to trace any injured party.'