Group claims responsibility for attack on Fred Goodwin's home

Published on Wednesday 25 March 2009 12:38

A group with apparent anti-capitalist leanings has claimed responsibility for the attack on the home of former banker Sir Fred Goodwin.

Vandals smashed windows and damaged a car in the early hours of Wednesday morning at the home of the ex-Royal Bank of Scotland chief .

Three ground floor windows were smashed as well as the back window and passenger window of a Mercedes S600 parked in the driveway.

Goodwin, who left RBS in October last year, sparked public anger when he refused to give up his 700,000 a year pension following a government

bail-out of the troubled institution.

An email sent to scotsman.com in the early hours of this morning stated:

Fred Goodwin's house on South Oswald Road, Edinburgh, was attacked this morning.

We are angry that rich people, like him, are paying themselves a huge amount of money, and living in luxury, while ordinary people are made unemployed, destitute and homeless. This is a crime. Bank bosses should be jailed.

This is just the beginning.

A spokesman for Lothian and Borders Police confirmed Goodwin's house had been attacked but refused to say if the former banker or his family were inside at the time.

"We can confirm that we did attend an address in Oswald Road at 4:35 a.m, he said.

"Enquiries are ongoing. We are appealing for witnesses."

Goodwin, 50, has kept a low profile since details of his pension payout emerged last month.

He has been criticised by politicians from all parties for receiving big payouts described by critics as a "reward for failure".

Anti-capitalist protesters are planning demonstrations in London next week around the G20 summit of world leaders, with flyers titled "Storm the Banks" circulating on the internet.

RBS, which has its headquarters in Edinburgh and is now majority owned by the government, said it was providing security for Goodwin's home in the city at a cost of around 290 per month.

"It is normal RBS practice to provide such arrangements for departing senior executives," the company said in a statement.