STH WOODFORD: Thieves target model's luxury flat (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

STH WOODFORD: Thieves target model's luxury flat

8:35am Tuesday 2nd June 2009 in Redbridge News By Crystal Wilde

STH WOODFORD: Thieves target model's luxury flat

SECURITY concerns have been raised on a luxury housing estate after burglars broke into the home of glamour model Danielle Lloyd and stole her Miss England crown.

The glittering prize - and thousands of pounds worth of other goods - were taken from her apartment on the Queen Mary's Gate development in South Woodford High Road, after thieves bypassed the 24-hour concierge service at the site’s entrance.

A spokesman for the former Celebrity Big Brother star told the Guardian that he had seen CCTV footage of four men kicking down the front door of her £700,000 flat, but Telford Homes, which owns the estate, claims there was NO forced entry and that the burglary could be connected to the model losing her keys earlier that week.

The Miss England crown is the second to be taken from Miss Lloyd.

She was famously stripped of her Miss Great Britain title in 2006 after posing nude for Playboy and being accused of dating Teddy Sheringham - one of the judges on the show.

The burglary completes a month of bad luck for the Liverpudlian model, who was punched in the face at South Woodford bar Funky Mojoe’s at the beginning of May, and was hospitalised last week after a fight at a Mayfair nightclub.

The model was recently seen showing off her expensively furnished flat in an episode of MTV's Cribs - a TV version of 'At Home' magazine.

Steven Homes, a resident at Queen Mary's Gate, has criticised security standards on the estate, and is refusing to pay his £1,600 annual service charge until things improve.

He said: "The front gates have been consistently broken since I moved in.

"It would not surprise me at all if Danielle was robbed when they weren't working.

"They've been down for eight weeks over the past six months and the twenty-four hour concierge staff aren't properly trained so can't patrol.

"Anyone is let in and it's not what they sold to residents when we first moved in.

"They have even given residents from other estates swipe cards so they can take a shortcut through the development."

Another resident John Machnicki added: "It annoys me because this is supposed to be a secure block and any issue like that gives me a cause for concern.

"They still have the problem of ongoing building work so there's always people going in and out and it's not as safe as it should be.

" A spokeswoman for Telford Homes said: "The main gates have no connection with the robbery as they have twenty-four hour concierge beside them and are CCTV monitored. The burglars did not enter through the main gates.

"The gates have been damaged twice by passing cars and in both cases, we have arranged repair as soon as parts have been available."

The burglary took place on May 17. Anyone with information should contact DS Martin Bird in Ilford CID on 8345 2635.