Security at the London theatre staging Harry Potter and The Cursed Child has been beefed up to protect young fans from thieves and drug addicts.
The Sun reported former members of the military have been drafted in to Soho’s Palace Theatre after the area was designated a “crime hotspot”.
Security was being used to tackle pickpockets and nearby crack addicts when theatre-goers came out of the Shaftesbury Avenue venue, the paper reported.
Freelance investigator Mark Guard, 51, claimed: “Security are having to deal with possible muggers, thieves, beggars, and touts.”
Harry Potter And The Cursed Child opening
He went on: “There are at least four criminals regularly walking round here that have done life for murder."
A source from firm SQR Security Solutions told the paper they had up to eight staff operating each night.
He said: “They have to be on their mettle when everyone leaves and people who could be thieves or worse try to mix in with them.”
The play opened last week, launched with a celebrity-filled gala and an appearance by Potter author JK Rowling.
Set 19 years after the events of the seventh and final book, The Cursed Child brings back Harry Potter, now grown up and an employee at the Ministry of Magic.
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