Dame Joanna Lumley's car targeted by thieves on motorbikes in London amid police warnings of rising threats

Alex Davies
Mon, 06 Apr 2026 10:33:22 +0000

Dame Joanna Lumley found herself face-to-face with a gang of masked criminals attempting to steal her vehicle outside her south London residence last week.

The 79-year-old Absolutely Fabulous star emerged from her £2.5million Stockwell townhouse after being woken by the commotion in the middle of the night.

A group of men on motorbikes had surrounded her car while its alarm blared.

According to one of Dame Joanna's neighbours, one thief was seated behind the wheel but was unable to get the engine running.

The actress, renowned for her portrayal of Patsy Stone in the BBC comedy, is said to have begun shouting at the intruders alongside the neighbour who had also rushed outside.

Soon after, the gang scattered from the scene, leaving empty-handed.

That neighbour was Times columnist Emma Duncan, who had rushed out barefoot wearing only an overcoat after hearing the disturbance.

She described the scene as resembling "a classic dream sequence" as she mocked the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Ms Duncan recounted how she spotted the commotion from her window and sprinted along the pavement towards the noise.

Upon reaching the vehicle, she said she heard one of the thieves in the driver's seat shouting that he couldn't start it.

"For want of anything better to do, I yelled at them to f*** off," Ms Duncan wrote, adding that Ms Lumley had joined her and "was doing much the same".

The vehicle was left at the scene with damage to its boot following the attempted theft.

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The incident forms part of a wider pattern of criminality affecting the neighbourhood.

Metropolitan Police had alerted local residents on March 28 about a spate of car break-ins in the area, urging them to report any relevant information.

Other vehicles on the street have also been targeted recently.

One resident reported that a 1990s Rolls-Royce had been broken into "a month or two ago" as thieves apparently searched for items on the back seat.

A van in the neighbourhood had its door damaged, whilst a small red car had its passenger window smashed in.

Meanwhile, Dame Joanna, who was born in Srinagar in British India and arrived in Britain aboard the HMT Empire Windrush in 1954, will celebrate her 80th birthday on May 1.

The two-time Bafta winner has shown no signs of slowing down professionally, recently taking on the role of Grandmama in the American series Wednesday and presenting a Sky travel programme exploring Caribbean destinations, including Cuba and Haiti.

Speaking to the Telegraph ahead of her milestone birthday, she dismissed any suggestion that turning 80 would change anything: "I'll be working on my birthday."

The actress declined to comment when contacted by press.