by Keyan Milanian

A shop owner whose life has been made "hell" by a three-year hate campaign says he is being driven out of Medway by yobs.

Yusuf Boztepe no longer feels safe after becoming victim to an astonishing string of racist attacks on his Walderslade store and home.

The vendetta against the 43-year-old boiled over into near-disaster when a thug staged a bizarre explosion outside the Kurdish man's shop.

Mark Marchant set light to an inflatable mattress filled with petrol or gas just seconds after a car had passed. The 28-year-old, of Pimpernel Way, Chatham, was last week jailed for five years for the attack.

Now Mr Boztepe, who has owned Walderslade Mini Market with his wife for three years, is selling up and moving out of Medway.

He said: "The yobs turned our lives to hell. I was told to 'go back to your country'. I have been to many places in England, I know England better than Turkey, but I have never had this." Mr Boztepe is being treated for depression, which doctors believe is linked to the stress of the harassment.

*For for the full story, pick up a copy of Monday Messenger.