Woman charged after breaking in to Cowell home
A 29-year-old woman is facing charges of aggravated burglary after she apparently broke into Simon Cowell's West London home on Saturday night. Leanne Zaloumis, reportedly from Catford in South London, is due to appear at West London Magistrates Court on Monday. Police are investigating the incident, which occurred shortly after the first edition of the new series of Britain's Got Talent had screened on ITV1. According to the Daily Mail Cowell was in the house watching TV at the time of the incident, and the paper claims that he came face to face with the woman at one point. The woman was eventually detained by the mogul's staff, although is not thought to have taken anything from the house. "It was a frightening experience," a friend told the paper. "Simon's fine but shaken up - because he didn't expect something like that to happen." Zaloumis has reportedly been remanded in custody ahead of her court appearance. Cowell returned to screens on Saturday night in the new series of Britain's Got Talent, which saw him return to the judging panel alongside regular Amanda Holden and newcomers David Walliams and Alesha Dixon.
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Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.
An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.