Simon Cowell Thanks Security Guard for Stopping Home Burglar
Cowell says someone broke into his London home on Friday night.
— -- Simon Cowell has thanked the security guard he says thwarted a burglary at his London home last Friday night.
The former “American Idol” judge and his family were reported to be sleeping at Cowell's $53 million mansion when the burglar allegedly entered and stole Cowell’s passport amid other items.
A neighborhood security guard, identified as 34-year-old M’Bathonha Mendes, said he was “between patrols” in the early morning hours when he saw a guy walking on the street with “a big bag under his arm.”
“I noticed that as he was walking, something dropped behind him,” Mendes told the U.K.’s Sunday Mirror. “I got out of the car and picked it up. It was a passport with Simon Cowell’s picture.”
“The adrenaline just kicked in. He was trying to get something out of the bag and I ran up to him, put my hand on his shoulder and said, ‘Wait a second,'" Mendes continued. “He jumped and then dropped the bag and ran."
"Fear is my friend," Mendes said of his fast response.
The security guard described the bag as feeling like “there was a lot of jewelry in it” and said once he arrived at Cowell’s house, he and another guard found empty jewelry boxes in nearby bushes.
“I haven’t spoken to Simon but he has phoned my boss, Trevor, and wants to meet me,” Mendes said of Cowell, now a judge on “The X Factor” in the U.K. “I am really glad he thought I did a good job. My daughter Sara is a huge ‘X Factor’ fan and can’t believe I saved some of Simon Cowell’s stuff.”
The Sunday Mirror reported that the recovered bag contained at least $700,000 in jewelry and other items.
Cowell took to Twitter over the weekend to comment on the matter, joking that his “guard dogs” did not come in handy during the security scare.
Hello. Thanks for all of the messages. Nobody got hurt. I don't think I have the best guard dogs in the World. — Simon Cowell (@SimonCowell) December 6, 2015
The TV mogul also spoke outside of his mansion over the weekend, describing the fear he felt after learning of the burglary.
"“The frightening thing is the idea that there’s someone in your house. It’s not what they steal. It’s the fact they’re in your house," Cowell said, according to the Sunday Mirror.
The Metropolitan Police issued a statement confirming no arrest has been made.
“Police were called to an address in (London) W14 on Friday 4th December at approximately 02.20 hours to reports of a burglary in progress. Officers attended the scene but the suspects had left the area. There have been no arrests," the statement read.