Footballers install panic rooms after spate of raids

WORRIED Premier League footballers have installed panic rooms in their homes in the wake of a series of raids on wealthy figures.

Stars from clubs including Manchester United, Liverpool and Everton were believed to be among those spending huge sums on extra security.

Work is understood to have taken place at luxurious north-west England properties in Alderley Edge as well as Hale, Knutsford and Mere.

The bunker-like rooms, which first emerged in the US, come with a price tag of £25,000 (€29,000), and upwards to install.

They can be secured with toughened walls, reinforced doors and windows, and even a secret DNA-style tagging spray to mark anyone trying to get in.

Inside, they can be quipped with panic buttons, mobile phones and hi-tech CCTV viewing equipment. Some have wireless laptops and secure communications links that can be used if telephone lines are cut.

The news follows a series of burglaries by criminals preying on the homes of football stars playing away matches.

In some of the most terrifying raids, wives and girlfriends have been held at knifepoint.

Robbers also targeted Eddie Stobart haulage company director Steve O’Connor, who owns Widnes Vikings rugby league team, and Doreen Lofthouse, who made millions selling Fisherman’s Friends lozenges.

Security expert Paul Hughes, of Benchmark PA, said his firm has supplied panic rooms to several high-profile clients, but declined to reveal further details.

Hughes, a former bodyguard of David and Victoria Beckham, said: “I do not like to call them a ‘panic room.’ It is a safe room.

“It is somewhere to go where people can stay safe for a delayed period of time while patrols or police respond.

“The rooms may beupstairs in the sleeping quarters, some people have them downstairs or in cellars.

“There is definitely a rise in sales because of the downturn in the markets at the moment. A lot of people are struggling, more people are turning to crime.

“People are going to these areas, seeing the cars and houses and they are saying: ‘Here is a target’.

“There are footballers that have had them fitted, but I am not prepared to go into the who, when and where of it.”

Many wealthy footballers have improved their personal security as a result of a series of burglaries and robberies. Some have employed private security guards.

The homes of Liverpool’s Danish defender Daniel Agger, goalkeeper Pepe Reina, striker Dirk Kuyt, and captain Steven Gerrard have all been targeted.

Manchester City forward Roque Santa Cruz, Cheshire-based Tottenham Hotspur striker Peter Crouch and Wigan striker Emile Heskey have also been victims.

Earlier this year, the home of Manchester United star Darren Fletcher was raided by a hooded gang, who held a knife to the throat of his fiancee Hayley Grice.

The midfielder was away in Italy ahead of his team’s Champions League clash with AC Milan.