On April 18 Martin became the second white farmer this year to be murdered by forces loyal to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. Trapped on his farm, Martin fought, and lost, a desperate and brave battle to save his family home.

The account of his last stand horrified the world. Ambushed by 120 armed men who made Molotov cocktails from fuel found in the farm’s workshop, he broke a chair to make a splint for his leg, which had been shattered. He was finally gunned down in the bathroom where he had filled the bath to seek refuge from the heat of the burning house. He had managed to call his mother on the neighbouring farm but police ignored her four frantic phone calls. The ambulance and friends who tried to get through were stopped on an approach road and denied access.

Having lost both her husband and her home, Kathy Olds fled to England with her children, Martine, 18, and Angus, 14. They arrived at Heathrow in May with little more than a suitcase each, a few precious photographs and mementoes salvaged from their home, and £60 — a gift. She has few assets left in Zimbabwe — the house was burnt to the ground — and when she left, the banks had no foreign currency.

At the airport they were met by Tim and Sue Gibbs, who had been neighbours in Zimbabwe and who put them up in their home in Gloucestershire. In August they moved to a rented bungalow in the Cotswolds and have been granted “indefinite leave to remain” in Britain by the Home Office; Kathy is living on state benefits. But her attempts to build a new life in Britain coincide with the murder last week of another white Zimbabwean farmer, Henry Elsworth, and a growing campaign of intimidation being reported by black and white Zimbabwean exiles in Britain.

Last Friday the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the main opposition party, appealed to the British authorities to protect its supporters, who have been spied on by agents working for Mugabe. Earlier in the week it was revealed that Albert Weidemann, an MDC activist in Manchester, received a letter from the Zimbawean High Commission urging him to read an enclosed “fact sheet” on the Zimbabwean land issue. Weidemann and his wife, Kathy, believe that their telephone calls, faxes and e-mails are being intercepted.

One of the conditions attached to Kathy Olds’s “leave to remain” is that she must not become involved in political activities. “I’m not a political animal, and I’m not going to jeopardise the conditions of my stay here,” she says.

“I’ve always been on my guard and aware that Mugabe’s people are here in Britain. I feel safer here than in Zimbabwe after Martin’s murder when we were harassed and threatened.

“Nothing Mugabe says surprises me. He is desperate to stay in power, and desperate men do desperate things. The ordinary man in the street, black and white, lived harmoniously.”

Kathy is adamant that neither she nor Martin were ever political activists, although Martin did sympathise with the MDC.

“Zimbabwe was once the shining jewel in Africa’s crown and now it’s on the road to economic ruin,” she says. “By putting his cronies and supporters on the farms, Mugabe is making sure he remains in charge. What astounds me is that the rest of the world stands idly by.”

The contrast between her modest new home and her former life could not be more striking. Martin and Kathy lived comfortably on a 23,000-acre farm, 42 miles from the country’s second city, Bulawayo, in a district called Nyamandhlovu or “meat of elephants”. They raised cattle and had built up a thriving game farming business. Third-generation Zimbabweans descended from British stock, they cherished their weekends as a family, spending time viewing game, going on picnics to the farm’s dams or horse riding.

“Martin was incredibly proud of his family, bringing the children up to take responsibility and play an active role on the farm,” says Kathy. “I will always remember him roaring with laughter last year when Angus, aged 13, was stopped by the police and fined Z$300 (less than £5) for driving a seven-ton Bedford truck on a main road. Angus had driven since he was about six years old when, piled high on cushions, he drove his father home from a cattle sale where he had dislocated his shoulder.”

Their lifestyle was profoundly unsettled when Martin received warnings and death threats. “As the situation got worse we spent a fretful weekend contemplating the situation before Martin told me to take what I could and leave with the children for our house in Bulawayo on Monday morning.

“When I closed the front door at 5.30 that morning I had a dreadful feeling I would never see The Ranch again. My last vision was of the beautiful expanse of lawn where we hosted large family gatherings and hoped Martine would have her wedding reception. I had planted Iceberg roses all around the border and as I turned round for the last time, the first golden shafts of light from the sunrise illuminated the blooms.”

Martin’s murder took place exactly ten years after he became the first civilian to be awarded the Bronze Cross for Valour by President Mugabe. The award, which recognised his bravery in grappling with a crocodile and wrestling one of his friends from its jaws in the Zambesi River, was made at a lavish ceremony at Government House.

“Mugabe spoke in glowing tributes to us both,” says Kathy, although he is recently alleged to have said on an American television documentary that Martin “got everything he deserved” and should not have antagonised the forces who went to his farm. Mugabe also pointed out that Martin had served in the Rhodesian Security forces.

“Martin didn’t antagonise them at all,” says Kathy, “and neither were there squatters on the farm before then. Does that give Mugabe an excuse to murder all former security forces, black and white? He’s just thumbed his nose at the rule of law.”

Kathy emphasises that forces from Mugabe’s notorious Central Intelligence Agency Organisation (CIO), and not the so-called “war veterans” were responsible for murdering her husband. Martin, 44, was the second white farmer to be brutally murdered this year after David Stevens was killed by squatters on his tobacco estate near Harare, 36 hours earlier. Mugabe refused to condemn the killings and occupation of white-owned farms by the “war veterans” in the run-up to the general election, denouncing the farmers as arrogant and racist.

Mugabe is adamant that white-owned farms should be handed to landless blacks. More than two million blacks are employed on white-owned commercial farms, which are responsible for a major proportion of the country’s food production and foreign exchange earnings. Compulsory seizures of thousands of farms have precipitated a calamitous economic situation.

Martin Olds treated his labourers well, housing and caring for the families of all 22 he employed. He was held in high esteem and every worker attended his funeral, along with the family’s maid, Flora. “At Martin’s funeral, she clutched a little posy of flowers she had made,” Kathy recalls, “and on his coffin she placed a note she had written in her native Ndebele. Translated, it read: ‘Go well. Sleep well.’”

In the days following the funeral Kathy realised the phone was bugged and the family became aware they were under surveillance. Friends who came to visit had their car tyres slashed. One morning Martine and Angus sat on her bed and urged her to take them somewhere safe. “As my ancestors were British and I had visited England once on holiday in 1976, we began to make discreet plans to leave.”

As the rain lashes down on a dank, dingy day in the Cotswolds, Kathy admits that they miss the heat, the wide-open spaces and the animals. Even now they can’t bring themselves to watch wildlife programmes on television. Martine used to throw cabbages over the fence to feed warthogs, which became tame, and every night they would hear the cough of an ageing leopard they called “Old Boy”, as he stalked round the outside of the house. “I also miss the smell of dust and all the bush noises,” says Kathy.

It is a testing time for the children too. Martine showed admirable application in finishing her A levels last month and hopes for good enough results to pursue a university degree in Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies. Angus is revelling in playing school rugby in the mud, an activity his mother believes keeps him sane.

But they miss their father terribly. “He was our rock,” says Kathy. “I so miss not being able to consult him and it’s difficult making all the decisions. He had a silent strength and he was a man of great principle and courage.

“I think what I admired most about him was that he stood for what he believed in. We are privileged to have known him as a husband and father, but we have lost our best friend. And of course our breadwinner. I would love to be able to go out to work, but I feel very battered and bruised — it’s essential to take things slowly.”

The family may return to Zimbabwe, but Kathy is adamant that it won’t be for a long time. “I’m very heartsore about the friends we left behind and never said goodbye to, and I hope they understand.”

She knows squatters have moved onto the cherished front lawn and game is being poached on the farm. “There is no law and order,” she says.

Last Christmas Eve Kathy indulged in an annual activity that always brought her pleasure. “I used to bake all sorts of little cakes and sweets to wrap in parcels for the children of all our workers. Once I’d sent someone to call them, they’d all arrive in their Sunday best, scrubbed from head to toe, and sing carols to us before racing off with their goodies. It was such a joy to watch them.

“This year we’ll be among family and friends, but I wish we didn’t have to go through it; I wish Christmas had come and gone.

“I’m trying to think of it as just another day, but it is an important milestone in our lives and we shall try to make the most of it. Martin would have wanted that.”

Readers wishing to help can send cheques made payable to: Olds Family Fund, Bank of Scotland, 35 Princes Street, Ipswich IT1 1AE (01473 582900).