HAVE-A-GO hero Martin Perrett has told how he feared he was going to be shot dead by raiders who targeted his farm.

The 52-year-old farmer and businessman said he was ‘frightened for his life’ as they opened fire after he confronted them in the middle of the night.

Mr Perrett, disturbed the balaclava-clad robbers at the business park on his 250-acre farm in Buckland Newton, near Dorchester.

The father-of-two was alerted to the break-in by his elderly parents, who live in the old farmhouse.

He tried to detain the men on his land and was shot at twice by what he believed was a rifle.

Two or three men are still on the run following the raid in the early hours of Wednesday morning, which sparked a large-scale manhunt involving the police firearms unit, dogs and the force helicopter.

Police say the gang are dangerous and are warning the public not to approach them.

One man from Yeovil was arrested and questioned in nearby Pulham hours after the incident but later released on police bail.

Mr Perrett, who was left ‘uninjured but angry’ by the attack, said he had expected it to be a false alarm.

He said: “I never dreamed I’d be shot at.

“When I got to the yard three masked men in camouflage gear, who I’d obviously surprised, running towards a Citroen estate car.

“I tried to block them in and they drove into me.

“I pushed them back up the road, while trying to ring 999 on my mobile phone.

“That’s when I heard a pop and the windscreen shattered.”

He added: “I was frightened for my life so I put the car in reverse to try to get away but they drove after me.

“It made me angry so I rammed them as fast as the Range Rover would go.

“They ended up getting stuck in mud so I reversed away and heard another loud pop as something else hit the windscreen.

“I waited back at the top of the track – it was a bit like the Keystone Kops.”

Mr Perrett said it was dark with bright headlights so although he had initially thought the raiders used a firearm, police now believed it was a projectile weapon like a ‘high-powered catapult’ as no cartridges had been found.

Despite his windscreen being shattered, Mr Perrett stood his ground when the raiders drove at his car again.

Mr Perrett said: “They climbed out of the car and luckily ran the other way.

“I saw a car in the yard and thought they’d stolen it but it was my wife and daughter Alanna looking for me.”

His wife, Elaine, said: “Martin shouted to us, ‘Stay in the car, they’ve got guns.’ “We were wearing pyjamas and wellington boots. We’d heard men’s voices yelling and thought they might be beating Martin up.

“The local police arrived pretty quickly but they couldn’t enter the area because it was thought to involve guns so they had to wait for the firearms unit.

Alanna, 21, said her legs were ‘like jelly’ as they ‘just sat there in the dark, waiting, not knowing where the bad guys were’.

Mr Perrett added: “The real hero in all this is my 87-year-old mum Sylvia who is our home guard.

“We’ve now bought new security equipment.”

The family said they would like to thank all the well-wishers from the village and beyond who had shown such ‘genuine concern’.