F1 heiress Petra moving to gang-ridden Los Angeles... because it’s ‘safer than UK’
IT’S home to some of the world’s most notorious gangs and has rising violent crime levels.
But Formula One heiress Petra Ecclestone has chosen Los Angeles to be her family’s new home – because Britain’s streets have become too ‘unsafe’.
Miss Ecclestone, 29, who owns a £100million home in Chelsea, said she found it ‘crazy’ how the UK was seeing so many violent attacks, including knife crime and robberies. She will employ four bodyguards in LA to ensure her safety and that of her three children.
The youngest daughter of F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone said other mothers at her children’s school expressed similar worries about safety. She stressed: ‘It’s crazy how unsafe the UK has become – so much more so than ten years ago.
‘Talking with mums at school, there have been so many incidents, so many attacks – robberies, knives during the day.
‘You don’t feel safe walking around the neighbourhood.’
She said of the bodyguards: ‘I have them for peace of mind. I want them to stay with my kids and to protect them and me.’
Los Angeles is part of a sprawling urban mass but the city’s population is just under four million – under half that of London. It has a higher murder rate, but much lower levels of rape, robbery and burglary. Experts say a high prison population, better policing and immigration into the city have helped cut rates.
Miss Ecclestone plans to move into an enormous 57,000ft mansion – the largest house in Los Angeles county. Her daughter is said to be due to start school in the city next month. She said: ‘There is valet parking for the kids and the teachers come and get them from the car.’
Speaking to the Sunday Times Magazine, Miss Ecclestone also spoke about her divorce from billionaire bullion dealer James Stunt, 36. She said she planned to ‘start again’, but ‘wouldn’t be able to have the same life that I did in the past’.
She added that she refused to badmouth her ex-husband in the media because of their children Lavinia, five, and three- year- old twins Andrew and James.
Miss Ecclestone stressed: ‘I guess I don’t want them to read negative things about their father or about themselves and be embarrassed by it. It’s the parents in school who are able to read about it and talk about it in their houses. I don’t want my kids to be treated any differently.’