Marilyn Finch was shot in the leg at her home in Bramley Way, Eastchurch

by Emma Grove

A housewife who was shot in the legs at her village home has spoken about how the memories of the attack still haunt her.

Marilyn Finch opened her front door to the gunman two years ago today.

She was sitting in her living room at her house in Bramley Way, Eastchurch, when the door buzzed and she got up to answer it.

Mrs Finch was faced with a man who pulled a gun from behind his back and as she slammed the door and started running down her hallway, he shot through it.

She fell to the ground and dragged herself back to the living room where she was found by her husband Peter.

Mrs Finch was taken to Medway Maritime Hospital, where 80 shotgun pellets were removed from her legs.

The 43-year-old still has clusters of pellets in her legs and says there is nothing more the doctors can do - she just has to let nature take its course and they will push themselves out, which happens every couple of months.

Mrs Finch, who is a full-time carer for her husband who has blood clots on his brain, says as well as the physical problems the shooting caused – her walking is now very slow – it has affected her mentally.

The shotgun wounds and marks left by surgery in Marilyn Finch's legs.

She is reminded of what happened every time she looks at the door and walls and sees the marks left by the shotgun pellets.

"I see reminders all the time," she said. "I don’t really go out much – only to the shops.

"I can’t describe what it’s done to me – but I think about it now and again and I have bad days when the memories come back.

"It’s been a horrendous two years and I don’t think any counselling would [help me] get over it – the shock and the memory will always be there.

"I just feel like this place is not my home any more."

"We want to get away from the memories – I have been on this Island too long."

• In 2010, a 32-year-old man was acquitted of attempted murder after a week-long trial at Maidstone Crown Court.