Linda and beat up her 17-year-old son Craig because he is gay

Menacing

And she described how she was pushed over the edge by a hate campaign waged by thugs who kicked in her front door, smashed garden ornaments, stole fish from the pond, attacked cars parked on the driveway and stole equipment from the shed.

They also made menacing phone calls to the family house in Urmston, Greater Manchester, threatening to rape Linda and beat up her 17-year-old son Craig because he is gay Fitness

.

"This all started more than two years ago when our home was vandalised and since then it's got worse," said Linda, head of year 11 at Salford's New Park School, with an unblemished 25-year record in education.

"My sons' cars had wing mirrors ripped off and the shed was broken into. Then Craig Fitness

started getting these abusive phone calls.

"The police said it would take three months to investigate because of data protection laws and I was furious. I couldn't stand the thought of my son putting up with that for another three months.

"The final straw came when I saw washing-up liquid had been poured all over Craig's white Ford Fiesta. I just couldn't take any more—and it was time to stand up to these people."

Linda stormed out of her quiet cul-de-sac and spotted a gang of youths. "When I saw them they fronted up to me," she told us.

"I said I'd go and get a gun and they told me to do it—so I did. This gang had been making our lives a misery for a long time and I wanted to show them I wasn't afraid."

After going back indoors and picking up partner John Cavanagh's Walther CP88 pellet pistol, Linda phoned the police and said: "I'm going to that field over the road and I'm going to shoot the vandals."

Outside she was confronted by four lads and fired at the feet of two of them. Both have criminal pasts. Robert McKiernan, 18, has been convicted of burglary and criminal damage and 16-year-old Nicholas Viollett is a proven shoplifter. "The gun wasn't loaded and I fired it just to show that me and my family weren't putting up with them any more," insisted Linda Celebrity Fitness

.

"I realise now that I overstepped the mark but nevertheless I shouldn't be here in prison. There are people in that gang who have committed crimes and they're not locked away, so why should I be?

Idiots

"These louts get away with troubling innocent families but as soon as I have a go back I'm sent to jail. It's wrong."

During Linda's trial McKiernan and Viollett both denied damaging Craig's car. The other lads ran off before police arrived. As part of Linda's appeal her lawyers are now trying to compile evidence to show that some of the boys she confronted had been on her property in the past and that's why she reacted. Her partner John, a 56-year-old college lecturer, told us: "We think the trouble all started with bullies from the school where Craig and his twin James went.

"We called police but they've never caught anyone. These idiots were stopping us living a peaceful life and sometimes they'd even stand outside the house chanting at us."

Although the family insist they complained 15 times, Manchester police say they only have records of three incidents, which were all investigated but no arrests were made.

As well as launching her appeal, Linda is battling to save her job at New Park, where daughter Donna, 20, also works as a teaching assistant. Linda is currently suspended.

"We're a total law-abiding family and have never been in trouble," she told us.

"Even other inmates have said I shouldn't be here. But I'm determined to clear my name and will fight for that all the way."