Wealthy Londoners are paying tens of thousands of pounds a year for bodyguards after a series of high-profile, knifepoint muggings.
People are hiring personal protection experts to escort them from their cars to their homes and to patrol their neighborhoods. Some are even recruiting highly trained bodyguards to tail them home from evening functions to ensure they are not being followed by criminals.
Residents’ groups in Regent’s Park, St John’s Wood, Maida Vale and Kensington are paying up to 70,000 GBP a year for the service, while one household in north-west London is paying 50,000 GBP a year for 24-hour personal security.
Their decision comes after several knifepoint robberies including those of designed Nicole Farhi and Bafta –winning TV producer Denise O’ Donoghue, who were targeted late at night outside their multi-million-pound homes.
Security firm’s today re-reported 70 per cent annual in crease in “meet and greet” services which allow clients to call in advance for guards’ to meet them at the car and walk them to their front doors. The rise has prompted firms to offer additional services, including tailing residents to make sure they are not followed.
Bodyguards have no weapons or police powers, but act as a deterrent and can carry out a citizen’s arrest.
Assaf Cohen, managing director of 1st Class Protection, said his guards receive up to 200 calls a day from customers needing an escort.
Cohen, a former Israeli army specialist-operations officer, said: “We give our customer a mobile number so they can contact the security guard to patrol their street or home.”
- Evening Standard 13th June 2008
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