Billionaire and Manchester United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe expressed concerns about declining safety in London, stating that he no longer considers the UK capital safe.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, Ratcliffe, the third richest man in the UK, shared his apprehensions, stating, ““I can’t wear a watch in London, and I just need to be a bit wary, a bit careful.”
Describing an incident, Ratcliffe said he witnessed someone being fatally stabbed outside his office in Knightsbridge on CCTV over a Rolex watch.
“He died in a pool of blood because somebody tried to take his Rolex and he resisted. About a year ago we had three guys in hoodies, with machetes, right outside the office, opposite Harrods,” he recalled.
The Manchester United co-owner attributed the rise in robbery and shoplifting to a broader failure by authorities to provide essential public services, including adequate prison space for criminals.
“We don’t have enough prison space. I mean, this didn’t just happen. We’ve been talking about the prisons being overcrowded for 10 years,” he noted.
According to The Telegraph report, London witnessed 116 murders in 2023-24, up from 112 the previous year, and a surge in recorded knife crimes, with 15,016 incidents, marking a 20% increase from the previous year’s 12,786.
The billionaire also expressed frustration that Britain’s political leaders are preoccupied with five-year election cycles, which he believes causes the country to swing “from one crisis to another.”
However, he praised Keir Starmer, the newly elected UK Prime Minister, expressing confidence that he would “do a very sensible job.”
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