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.

DI Ann Lisseman said: ˜This sentence [of Marchant] is the result of a complex police investigation which has taken place over a number of months. Marchant's actions could have caused serious injury to anyone who may have been nearby at the time. He showed a clear intent on causing serious injury and we are fortunate the consequences were not more severe.

˜Marchant had been involved in a dispute with a local shopkeeper and this was a desperate attempt to cause harm and intimidate local residents. Kent Police has been working alongside our partners at Medway Council to crack down on illegal activity in the Weedswood area of Chatham.

"We are committed to ensuring the residents can feel confident in their local community by effectively tackling crime and anti-social behaviour.

"If people continue to carry out acts of criminality in the Weedswood area then we will prosecute them and bring them to justice."