A MOTHER who survived being gunned down on her doorstep is to leave Britain.

Heather Honey, 28, was shot in the back in 1999 at her home in Perkinsville, near Chester-le-Street, County Durham, by Stephen Abadom, one of the North-East's most notorious gangsters.

The former boxer, who has a string of convictions for violence, was given a life sentence after a trial at Leeds Crown Court last year.

But Heather, who is living under an assumed identity, said: "I am terrified that there will be another attempt on my life and this time it will be fatal.

"I don't want to live in this country any more. I have got somewhere where I can go abroad, where I have real friends and that is what I'm going to do. I want to try and start a new life, but even then I think I will always be looking over my shoulder."

Abadom was on the run for five months before he was caught in Sunderland.

He shot his victim over an unpaid debt of just £200 and, as paramedics tried to save her, Abadom made a chilling call to her mobile phone and sneered: "Will I get my £200 now?"

Heather, who has now moved away from her home, said: "It is very rare that I leave my flat, I have to get someone else to do my shopping.