"They have been robbed three or four times. One of them was quite nasty.

"They have not been injured but property has been stolen."

Local farmers said the area has been increasingly targeted by car thieves.

One said: "We had three Land Rovers stolen. We had fitted one with a tracker and it was recovered in Birmingham."

A second man was later treated for gunshot injuries after arriving at Leicester Royal Infirmary, 10 miles from the scene of the shooting. Neither of the men is said to be seriously injured.

Yesterday the businessman and his wife were arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm. Four men, understood to be the suspected burglars, were also arrested.

The case will reignite the debate over a householder’s right to defend his property, which began in the late 1990s after the farmer Tony Martin shot two burglars at his remote Norfolk home. In 1999, Martin fired at Brendan Fearon, 29, and Fred Barras, 16, after they broke into the house in Emneth Hungate.

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