Rangers boss has home robbed... just days after gun raid
RANGERS chairman Dave King yesterday told how thieves targeted his home only days after he was held at gunpoint during a robbery at his office.
The multi-millionaire said his house had been broken into over the weekend and his laptop stolen, throwing the businessman’s working life into chaos.
He said: ‘I’m having to borrow a laptop from a friend just to see my emails twice a day.’
The 64-year-old, who lives in South Africa, said he was still coming to terms with the horror of the robbery outside his office last Monday when the latest raid took place. He was not at home at the time.
He told the Mail crime was spiralling out of control in his adopted homeland and his family would now seriously consider moving back to the UK.
Glasgow-born Mr King, who is stepping down as Rangers chairman next month, said armed robbers had followed his car before leaping out of their vehicle and brandishing pistols.
He added: ‘When I went through the electronic gate [to my office], they drove in the car behind me and blocked the gate so it couldn’t close.
‘They then took a gun to the security guard’s head and a gun to the office manager’s head.
‘Two of them then came after me, so there were four armed people in total. Two came to me and two came to make sure no one could come to my assistance.’
He said the robbery took place only three days after he had played golf with long-time friend Gary Player, who had told him about another South African friend who had been shot and robbed of his Rolex watch.
Mr King said: ‘I said to Gary, “How is the guy?”. He said, “No, they killed him”. That was on the
Friday and this happened to me on the Monday. The thing going through my mind was, “Just stay calm, don’t antagonise the guys”.
‘It was a question of being as calm as possible and hopefully making sure it’s just a robbery and nothing more than that.’
The robbers fled with Mr King’s Patek Philippe watch – a vintage model worth thousands. He said: ‘It’s unlikely I’ll be able to replace it. These watches don’t look as glitzy as a gold Rolex does.
‘They were probably initially quite disappointed because they might not understand Patek Philippe but later on they would realise they are more valuable.’
The robberies follow a string of crime scares for the family. Mr King said he had also been followed to his home by men wearing balaclavas and carrying guns last November. They were intercepted by his security guards and fled.
Both his daughters have also faced terrifying robbery ordeals in the past two years.
His eldest, Tracey, was robbed as she arrived at her office in Johannesburg and had her watch, rings and other jewellery stolen.
Her sister Lauren was robbed in her car while she was waiting at traffic lights.
Mr King said: ‘They came up with a gun and put it to her head and demanded her phone and watch and so on. She had my baby grandson in the back of the car. So she said, “Just take what you want, but leave my son alone”.
‘This is just coming up to you at a traffic light. They put a gun to your head while the lights are red in broad daylight. They say, “Give me your phone, your watch, your purse, your bag”, and then they walk away five seconds later.’
Mr King said his family now needed to discuss whether to stay in the crime-ridden country.
He added: ‘It’s something we as a family have got to sit down now and just decide.
‘As a family we’ve got to say, “Look we’ve had three really, really difficult experiences, we’ve all had guns held to our heads... is this the type of country where we want to be bringing the kids and grandkids up?”.’
Figures show there were 21,022 murders in South Africa between April 2018 and March last year.
Mr King said: ‘Through a combination of incompetence and corruption it’s not being dealt with at a government level, so these guys are acting with impunity. They know they can get away with it.’
‘Put a gun to my daughter’s head’