MOGUL Simon Cowell tonight thanked The Sun after we smashed an alleged plot to burgle his £45million home and those of other A-list stars.
Police arrested a security expert suspected of being involved in targeting the houses using a lock decoding gadget after previously being hired to make them impregnable.
BGT supremo Simon, 63, issued a heartfelt statement yesterday, saying: “When I initially was told about this story by The Sun, I couldn’t believe it. It was like something out of a science fiction film. I want to thank the team at The Sun who have been working hard to expose this.”
We handed cops a dossier after investigating claims that a businessman who had lost a fortune was brazenly masterminding a bid to raise millions of pounds by raiding his ex-clients’ addresses.
He was said to have paid for delivery of the obscure decoder from Bulgaria — knowing it would open the tungsten-strengthened locks fitted on the front doors of wealthy celebrities.
The security boss had claimed to have personally fortified hundreds of luxury pads — including Cowell’s — gaining exclusive knowledge of how to enter the lavish properties.
He was also accused of targeting houses belonging to a global singing star, a TV household name, a Russian billionaire, a sportsman, and a Chinese multi-millionaire.
Despite the wealthy clients forking out up to £15,000 a piece on industry-leading steel security doors, their homes could be accessed without a scratch within seconds.
The security chief allegedly boasted he could target thousands of properties owned by the rich and famous across the UK with the same decoder, which works as a skeleton key for certain locks.
The 49-year-old father of one, who owns a £1million five-bed pad in Hertfordshire, was accused of approaching a former crook to execute his criminal plan.
He gave precise details about the decoder needed and handed over £750 so he could buy it.
Then he allegedly provided his would-be accomplice with an exact replica of the lock he had fitted on Cowell’s home to practise entering it.
The associate ordered the device, which DHL delivered nine days later.
The manufacturer states it will “open 100 per cent of the locks” with a designated profile — which we are not revealing.
And on the former con’s first attempt, he opened the lock with ease.
The Sun listened in as the businessman allegedly bragged of the millions they would make.
The security chief was said to have been involved in fitting new security doors on Cowell’s West London home after £1million of jewellery was previously stolen while he, his partner Lauren Silverman, 45, and their son Eric, nine, slept.
The X Factor boss had no idea one of the professionals he had entrusted to make his home secure, spending more than £500,000 in the process, would later be accused of plotting to ransack it.
At a meeting to discuss allegedly targeting Cowell’s property — which could involve hiring a criminal gang and “tying up” people during any raid — the security expert recalled the lay-out.
He was said to have told his accomplice: “The door has been fitted. He’s got windows, doors, French doors. He’s got two security guards, and honestly mate, they’re in a little room the size of this area here with 16 monitors so they’ve got cameras fing everywhere around the house. Cos, you know, he got robbed a few years ago. That’s why he had these doors and windows done.”
It is also believed that after explaining the lay-out, he later went for a covert recce of the pad to ensure the lock had not been upgraded.
He had an initial meeting with his accomplice in a quiet corner of a hotel bar in Hemel Hempstead, Herts, on May 20.
The alleged plot mastermind, arriving at the rendezvous in his £50,000 black BMW, said of Cowell’s home: “I just know what security he’s got cos I’ve been in that security booth. Every fing part of the house is covered. He will have his own security guard.”
He then suggested targeting a home owned by a singing star on the south coast — who has rented the massive pad out to a Premier League footballer.
Cowell told of his amazement after The Sun secured the decoder device which could open his front door. He said:
“I was in total shock. The fact that it is possible for a person to obtain the software code to sell to someone so they could rob the house my family live in is disgusting. To even consider doing this is dangerous and reckless.
“People who attempt to enter other people’s homes couldn’t care less of the consequences and how people living in these houses could have been affected.”
The suspect was held in custody overnight and released on bail.
SIMON Cowell had £15,000 maximum security locks put in at home after a burglary left him in “constant fear”.
The music mogul, partner Lauren Silverman and their then-infant son Eric were sleeping when their West London home was raided in 2015.
Serial crook Darren February – later jailed for eight years – got in through a window while a security guard was on the loo and stole £1million of jewellery.
Cowell described the ordeal as “traumatic” and added: “There is a constant fear it may be repeated and that it may be worse next time.
“I’m very scared of what could have happened to my son if the burglar had gone into his room.”
