Attacks on the rich bring fear to Belgravia

Private security guards with dogs patrol the streets, hired by the wealthy of west London to protect them from a violent crime wave

On London's streets neighbours cower behind barred and bolted doors - watched over by CCTV cameras - while former soldiers pound the pavements with guard dogs, ready to respond within minutes of a panic button being pushed.

This is not an inner-city sink estate, however, nor a futuristic vision of a lawless city, but wealthy enclaves such as Kensington and Chelsea, Belgravia and St John's Wood, where the well-heeled are willing to part with £1,000 a year for private security patrols, such is their fear of crime.

Paul Barnes, the operations manager for one of the leading security companies, Crown Protection Services, said: "We cover most of Kensington and Chelsea, also Holland Park as far as Shepherds Bush and north almost up to King's Cross. We also have patrols in Golders Green and Edgware."

The fear factor has been fuelled by the high-profile case of the city financier John Monckton, who was stabbed and killed by two intruders in his Chelsea home last November. His widow, Homeyra, who was left paralysed by the attack, last week told a court of her terror when the thieves broke in to their home while their nine-year-old daughter was in the bath. Two men are on trial for murder.

Less than a mile from the Moncktons' home, the heiress to a £1bn fashion company, Nadja Swarovski, 35, who is nine months pregnant, came face to face with two burglars last week who forced their way into her exclusive flat in Cadogan Square, Belgravia. They made off with jewellery believed to be worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Mr Barnes explained that before a patrol is set up a meeting is held with the police and that residents are given a direct phone number to contact guards if they spot anything suspicious.

"Year on year it's increasing," he added. "We also work with some construction companies who want CCTV coverage built into exclusive residential flats, which we monitor."

Around 50 schemes are believed to be operating in London in an industry thought to be worth around £80m a year, with the highest concentration in Kensington and Chelsea.

The guards, who are often former soldiers, do not have any special powers, although they can make a citizen's arrest. They have caught muggers and car thieves, but residents say their presence is enough to deter criminals.

Stephen O'Sullivan, a management consultant who lives in St John's Wood, said that his neighbours banded together to hire private patrols, at a cost of £1,000 a year, four years ago to stem a spate of car thefts.

"Every night you would come home to a trail of cars with their alarms going off," he said. "I don't think the police knew what to do. The security guard patrols in a car that looks like a police car. It seems to work. I haven't seen any cars broken into since it started. I'd prefer the police to do it though. Although the police station now shuts on a Saturday and Sunday."

Critics point out that the schemes operate in some of the lowest crime rate areas in the country - despite the high-profile nature of the crimes that do occur. In Kensington and Chelsea, for example, in the year to October there were 1,518 residential burglaries, down from 1,862 the previous year. But that has to be set against 63,998 throughout London. Crimes described as "violence against the person" fell from 3,342 to 3,334 in Kensington and Chelsea, against a London-wide figure of 206,812.

Some neighbours believe the patrols are intimidating. One woman in Kensington said yesterday: "They are big scary guys, and actually quite intimidating. I don't know why they don't just have CCTV. They don't need dogs. It gives me the creeps."

It is not unusual for thieves to target highly paid football stars. Earlier this year, thieves broke into the home of the Chelsea and England midfielder Frank Lampard. The Argentinian star Juan Sebastian Veron was threatened with a machete in his south London homein January last year.

While security patrols work closely with the local police, often sharing intelligence, they have come under fire from the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair.

He called residents who spend money on the schemes "crazy", and warned against the "Balkanisation" of policing.

"We do not want private security to become quasi-police," he said.

Sir Ian believes that the Met's Safer Neighbourhoods Scheme - which is putting six dedicated officers in every local authority ward - and Community Support Officers are tackling the issues of public safety.

Additional reporting by Laura Herring