AN ELDERLY woman was left cowering in fear under her duvet after a gang of youths ripped gas pipes from the wall of her home and tried to smash down her front door. Phyllis Marchant, 82, was in bed in her council flat in Thatch Barn Road, Headcorn, when the youths struck on Saturday night.

Police and firefighters, called by a member of the public, forced their way into the gas-filled flat to rescue shaken Mrs Marchant, who went to stay with a neighbours. The entrance to the flat was boarded up by council workers.

Mrs Marchant's daughter, Kathleen McDowell, 60, of Mangravet, Maidstone, said: "I think they must have thought someone else lived there - why would anyone do that to an old lady? Mum's very, very quiet and subdued at the moment. She's kind, caring and homely. It's terrible that this should happen to her where she should feel safe."

Mrs Marchant, who moved to Headcorn with her late husband Ernest 25 years ago, has been left shaken by the attack and is now considering moving. She is a familiar face in the village where she is a member of Eldercare, a club for the retired, and the Heacorn branch of the Royal British Legion.

Mrs McDowell said her mother deserved to live in peace. "Everyone should be able to stay in their own home alone," she said. "It's even more horrendous because she's older and on her own. I'm scared for her safety - there's only one exit to that flat. If anything happened she wouldn't stand a chance."

Police are not ruling out the possibility that the attack was linked to earlier incidents outside Headcorn Village Hall, Station Road, where fighting broke out among 50 revellers who had spilled out on to the street from a party inside. Less than half an hour afterwards, four men were seen outside Mrs Marchant's home.

A spokesman for Maidstone Borough Council confirmed it was looking into re-housing Mrs Marchant.