Grandmother defends her home from machete-wielding gang with crossbow nicknamed 'Manstopper'
A 49-year-old grandmother in England had to shoot a crossbow bolt at a masked man who was part of a gang that had broken into her home thinking it was a drugs den.
The four intruders broke down the door of Anji Rhys's home in Bedfordshire, England, yesterday as she was watching television next to her sleeping partner on the sofa.
When she heard what she described as "a massive explosion", she rushed to her front door to be confronted by a masked man with a hammer. Without thinking, she grabbed her crossbow.
She told the Daily Mail: "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 crossbow through the window to raise the alarm but the curtains caught it like a goalie net."
She explained that her partner, Rebecca, pushed the man away and he was left bleeding from the crossbow injury.
Rebecca told police that when her son Dillon, who was asleep upstairs, was woken up he came downstairs threatening the men with garden shears.
She told police: '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."
The gang then fled and Ms Rhys explained why she had a crossbow in her home.
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, who used to be a semi-professional Thai boxer, said the gang were all white and spoke 'street'.
She said: "They were 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 their information from. 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? '
Ms Rhys has left her job at a college in Luton as a result of the raid, as she suffered injuries to her head, hand and back of her leg.
She said: "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.'
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.
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."
