TV presenter attacked in home

TV presenter Sheila Hollywood, husband Martin and baby Luca

A COUPLE spoke yesterday (Wednesday) of their ordeal at the hands of a gang of youths who tried to steal from their home.
TV presenter Sheila Hollywood and her producer husband Martin faced down the burglar at their home in Doynton Road, Highgate New Town, on Friday night.
The couple, who have a four-month old baby, Luca, say their street has been plagued by a teenage gang who use drugs and intimidate them at their own front door. They became suspicious on Friday when they heard noises in the communal hall of their building.
When Mr Hollywood went to investigate, he spotted the youth walking out of the door with his neighbour’s bike.
Ms Hollywood said: “My husband asked him where he was going with the bike and he said, ever so calmly, that he was a nephew of our neighbours upstairs and was borrowing the bike.
“My husband spotted his own BMX had gone and asked the boy where it was and he, again calmly, said: ‘My mate’s taken it down the shops.’
“When we checked with the neighbours they said they did not know him. Martin went down to chase him and the boy hit him in the face. When I tried to stop him, he hit me on the side of the head, too. We did not want to do anything to him because he was clearly under 16 and we could have ended up in more trouble than him if we had retaliated.”
The couple, who have made shows about snowboarding and motocross for cable TV, say a gang of 20 youths taunted them from across the street while they waited two hours for police to arrive.
Ms Hollywood added: “When the police arrived they did a good job, taking forensic swabs of blood, but it is not nice being threatened on your own doorstep.”
Highgate had the third highest rate of burglary in Camden last year, with an average of nearly five a week.
A police spokesman said a drive against burglary was now under way. He added: “We are determined to track down burglars and will re-examine cases and use forensic methods to catch them.”