Security specialists have issued a warning about the risks confronting residents in Cheshire’s wealthy ‘footballer belt.’ This follows Olivia Attwood’s announcement that she and husband Bradley Dack are selling their home and relocating after experiencing a third burglary.

Attwood, known from Loose Women and Love Island, disclosed that the celebrity pair have listed their £1.15 million mansion just weeks after the recent incident occurred.

The duo, who wed in 2023, have resided in the four-bedroom house since 2021, when it was first featured on the ITV series Olivia Meets Her Match.

Following a July burglary, Attwood posted a heartfelt video on Instagram, condemning the ‘scumbags’ responsible for targeting the home while she was working in Spain.

This development trails after police declared last month that they had concluded their investigation into a burglary at England star Jack Grealish’s £5.6 million Cheshire mansion, which happened on Boxing Day 2023.

Now, safety consultants are highlighting the threats celebrities in Cheshire face, particularly within the ‘Golden Triangle’ known for the county’s priciest residences.

These include alarms raised about showing treasured possessions and properties online – with hawk-eyed criminals preying on information. 

Former Royal Marines commando Richard Christian, who now runs security specialists firm BluSkills, told the Daily Mail how social media was ‘one of those modern challenges’, especially in its prolific use by wealthy high-profile figures.

He said: ‘You’ve got people who make a living out of having a high profile, being associated with high value items often displayed and that’s definitely a motivation for criminals.

‘This area of Cheshire you have a high concentration of such figures and the attraction for burglars is exceptionally high.’

The Golden Triangle – five miles across and nicknamed after its three ‘points’ of Alderley Edge, Prestbury and Wilmslow – has long been a popular lure especially for Premier League footballers.

Prestbury has street with the highest average property value in northern England, £1.2million for homes in Withinlee Road, while the region’s highest-priced home put up for sale was one in Alderley Edge advertised for £15million.

Golden Triangle residents have included David and Victoria Beckham, Wayne and Coleen Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kyle Walker and current Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk.  

The home Attwood and Dack now hope to sell is not far from the Golden Triangle, in the village of Bramhall whose previous footballing residents have included Manchester City’s Phil Foden and Manchester United legends Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Paul Ince, Peter Schmeichel, Steve Bruce and George Best.

Explaining this week the decision to now put their Cheshire home on the market, Attwood highlighted how they had spent little time there over the past year.

She has been working in London, while Dack, 31 – whose previous clubs include Blackburn Rovers and Sunderland – rejoined Kent-based League Two side Gillingham in May last year.

Attwood said: ‘The house is going to go on the market very soon. Essentially, I had this apartment in London that I was just using as a base for filming and that’s what it was meant to be, but now we’re living here. 

‘That’s our family home in Cheshire, but we’re not in it so we’ve been umming and ahhing because we’re both kind of emotionally holding on to that house, we love it so much. It’s just that Cheshire doesn’t work for us anymore because we’re not there.’

In July, Olivia furiously hit out at the ‘scumbag’ thieves who broke into the house, claiming at the time that they were ‘tracking’ the property.

Taking to social media, Olivia said: ‘So obviously I can’t go into too much detail because it’s an open investigation now.

‘But some scumbags basically smashed a second-floor window, went in, and the security team got the notification within, like, 30 seconds, and they were there within two minutes with dogs.

‘The little scumbags ran off. They got some stuff but they didn’t get what they came for, and now I have to just show face because it’s a really important work day and I’m feeling a bit tired and a little bit emosh, but yeah, brave face.’

She further explained: ‘We weren’t there and the dogs weren’t there. Obviously, if you know my dogs, the rescue Shepherd and Rottweiler, no one’s getting into my house and not getting out [killed] if my dogs are in there.

‘So these f*****g, like, disgusting vermin, were obviously tracking the house and they obviously went at a time they knew the dogs weren’t there, but they didn’t know that we had security with a dog team, so they came down so quickly, thank God.’

She went on to say it was the third time they had been burgled, the previous two occasions having been when they lived in neighbouring Manchester. 

She had introduced viewers to the home when buying it in 2021, in the second series of her ITV programme Olivia Meets Her Match which followed preparations for her wedding to Dack. 

They are far from the only Cheshire celebrities to be targeted  – with analysts highlighting why criminal gangs are keeping close watch on opportunities to hit extravagant homes in county’s wealthiest areas.

And that increasingly means keeping close watch on stars’ social media platforms especially the likes of Instagram, where hundreds of thousands of followers are given frequent glimpses of palatial homes and expensive possessions.  

BluSkills managing director Mr Christian said he would recommend not posting photos or footage of homes or holidays online but those who felt they needed to should have ‘full-time security in place’.

Not only celebrities’ own public social media accounts can provide potentially useful information for gangs, but also other websites in which high profile people’s data is increasingly shared.

Mr Christian’s colleague Siobhan Considine, who has been working with him on an awareness campaign directly addressing celebrities’ security, told how many stars  might seem unaware of how much personal information there is about them online.

The BluSkills company facilitator, a Cheshire resident herself, said: ‘A lot of the dangers can come after they’ve posted online, making public crucial details which make it completely easy for criminals to find their properties.

‘Obviously a lot of celebrities are posting on Instagram but don’t realise this gives plenty of data which can be used against them – even if it might seem an innocuous enough photo of a handbag or some furniture.

‘Often they don’t realise until something has happened physically – say, artwork and jewellery has gone missing – and it’s such a shame to get to that point.

‘Posting locations on Instagram is a big one – and often people can do this without realising.’

And she also suggested that council housing plans can get scoured by criminals to identify potential targets, as well as online posts about celebrities by their devoted or indeed ‘obsessed’ fans.

These can unwittingly help to give away more vulnerable details such as locations or times away from home.

Mr Christian added: ‘There is now so much information online, including registration sites, which can get you close to where people live – and when and where they’re going to be, and criminals who are keeping watch for this all the time.’

He urged those at risk of being targeted: ‘Each case is different, but if there are periods you’re aware – especially if it’s numerous times – then get some kind of on-premises security.’

But he suggested even football stars might not be able to stretch to the costs that necessary top-level protection, adding: ‘Obviously if you’re David Beckham you can but even Premier League players and below might not have the means – even living in areas like these.

Mr Christian also sympathised with Attwood and Dack, saying: ‘To be done three times – that’s not good.’

Former Metropolitan Police detective Peter Bleksley also recommended measures high-profile figures should put in place, especially if continuing to prolifically post on social media, including at least CCTV and state-of-the-art lighting.

He said: ‘Those with wealth will unfortunately always be targeted by criminals, burglars, aggravated burglars.

‘It’s a problem that’s not going away, but a lot could be done to reduce these pernicious crimes.

‘Unfortunately some TV personalities and footballers, with significant wealth, seem determined to flaunt it on social media – thereby flagging it up to criminals – and as long as anyone keeps doing so, they’re going to remain a potential target.

‘This is not victim blaming – it’s very much the criminals who are to blame. 

‘For people with profiles like these, you have to think about having a permanent security team around your home – especially as police don’t patrol the streets anymore and aren’t going to be around these places to catch someone in the act.’

Other footballers in the area who have fallen victim to burglars in recent years include England and Manchester City star Jack Grealish, now on loan at Everton.

He spoke out after his £5.6million mansion in Chelford was raided on Boxing Day 2023, when thieves stole £1million worth of jewellery while his family were inside watching him on television playing for City against his current club. 

Police sources suggested the gang responsible had ‘inside information’ and could have been following removal men helping Grealish and girlfriend Sasha Attwood move in days beforehand.

Cheshire Police last month said in a statement their investigation had now ended, ‘with no suspects identified’, though added: ‘Should any information come to light, then it will be reviewed by officers.’

They added: ‘These raids are carried out by serious organised crime networks, often based overseas, who have huge pools of intelligence about what players are doing and when. They pay big money for tip-offs to help carry out raids like this.’

Grealish had written on Instagram in the aftermath of the December 2023 burglary: ‘I can’t begin to explain how devastated I am over the burglary that took place at my home a few days ago.

‘My family mean the world to me and nothing is more important than ensuring their safety. This has been a traumatic experience for all of us, I am just so grateful that nobody was hurt.

‘I have had so many amazing experiences and achievements over the last 12 months, but to be honest the best year of my life in football now doesn’t feel like something I can celebrate.

‘The people that commit these terrible crimes have no idea of the damage they cause to peoples lives. I hope they are found and brought to justice so no other family has to go through what we have.’

That crime came a year after the Cheshire mansion of Little Mix star Perrie Edwards and ex-Liverpool footballer fiancé Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was hit by raiders making off with jewellery and designer handbags worth thousands.

The gang used a ladder to gain entry to an upstairs window – the same tactic as later feared to have been used at Grealish’s home.

Edwards and Oxlade-Chamberlain had moved in together in 2019 and gave fans online glimpses inside their home as the couple self-isolated during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

Taking to social media at the time, the pair shared several photos and clips from inside their abode as they make the most of spending quality time together.

Edwards told a radio interview in April 2020: ”I feel like I’m really enjoying this, I can’t lie. I’m having the time of my life. I’ve never spent so much time with my boyfriend, I’ve never spent so much time in my house.’

A footballer whose Cheshire home was more recently targeted was ex-West Ham United striker Nicky Maynard, while he and his wife Tara were dining nearby in the Cheshire town of Nantwich with their two sons.

Fashion brand owner Tara, who posts regularly about her collection of designer clothing and the family’s lifestyle to her 670,000 Instagram, revealed what had happened in an angry and emotional video message.

She said: ‘Well, I tell you what working hard gets you, girls, and going out for a meal for your son’s 12th birthday – to come home to be absolutely everything has been taken, like everything.

‘We’ve been out for an hour for Trey’s birthday and they’ve literally ransacked the whole place.

‘Like even the little kids’ safes with the cash in that they’ve been saving for Christmas and birthdays, they’ve literally taken the lot.’

Addressing her followers, she said: ‘If anybody hears or they’re selling any of my bags girls, everybody knows what I’ve got.

‘You all know what jewellery I’ve got. Then please, please tell me.’

‘If anybody hears or they’re selling any of my bags girls, everybody knows what I’ve got. You all know what jewellery I’ve got. Then please, please tell me.’

And she highlighted in a second video how the burglars even broke into their sons’ money boxes, adding: ‘Like, what scum on earth?’