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EXCLUSIVE In a Britain plagued by lawlessness, the Blairs & their neighbours are each paying £800 a year for a PRIVATE security guard to crack down on hoodies near their £3.6m mansions
By Victoria Raymond & Justin Penrose Crime Correspondent
TONY BLAIR and his neighbours have hired a private security guard to crack down on hoodies causing chaos in their posh London square.
More than 50 wealthy homeowners in Connaught Square, - where the Prime Minister has a £3.6million Georgian home - each pay £800 a year for a "garden fund" which pays for upkeep, including the guard.
The square has seen a surge in crime and anti-social behaviour and has twice the London average for burglaries and robberies.
Frightened homeowners even use the guard to get from their car to their door. They ring the guard's mobile and he walks them home.
Mum-of-four Kathy Hyer, who lives next door to the Blair's townhouse, said the square - opposite Regent's Park - is like a "party zone" on Friday and Saturday nights. She said her car has twice been vandalised in the few months she's lived there.
She said: "It can get very busy at the weekend with a lot of cars and loud people. Music blares from cars and people dance on the street."
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And only last weekend a woman was mugged outside the Blairs' home at 3am. The guard chased her attacker and returned the sobbing victim's handbag and jacket after the robber dumped it.
While police struggle to cope with spiralling levels of robberies and violent crime, Mr Blair has launched a bid to identify likely problem children while they are in the womb.
Earlier this month he announced his plan for state intervention with nuisance families dubbed "Fasbos" - anti-social behaviour orders for foetuses.
Just a month ago Met Commissioner Sir Ian Blair boasted that Londoners felt so safe they were "leaving their doors open".
But residents at the square, where Mr Blair will eventually live when he quits No 10, decided to hire the Croydon-based Mercantile Security Services.
The guard works until 4am on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights in a fluorescent yellow vest bearing the words "Security, Connaught Square".
He reassures residents, moves on rowdy yobs and deals with any trouble. A homeowner's driver said: "The lady I work for feels scared to be out on her own so to be met is reassuring for her."
When anti-social behaviour flares into violence the guard immediately calls police.
The Blairs bought their five-bed home in 2004, before the local market slumped, and had difficulty finding someone to pay rent. Scottish film director Michael Caton-Jones is renting it until 2008. He pays £2,000 a week - a £6,000 shortfall on their £14,000-a-month mortgage.
Club DJ Paul Oakenfold, who co-wrote the Big Brother theme tune, rents out his townhouse and Richard Balfour-Lynn, chairman of Retail Stores - owner of Liberty - lives there.
Local shop owner Vadjiheh Safa said: "I don't think Tony Blair knows what he's letting himself in for when he moves in.
"You get gangs of people fighting with sticks."
Local councillor Colin Barrow said: "Young people come in their cars playing loud music, eating takeaways and throwing rubbish over the square."
A woman, whose car has been repeatedly vandalised, said: "Since this scheme was introduced things have got better - everyone feels safer."
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