London's new Robin Hood moves the homeless into city's poshest mansions

Updated

The champion of London's homeless, Mark Guard, is becoming nearly as famous as his celebrity neighbors, including Maggie Thatcher, Joan Collins, Sean Connery and Nigella Lawson. Guard, the self-appointed leader of a group of squatters, is grabbing headlines again after taking up residence in yet another mansion in Belgravia, London's most upscale district.

This £4 million ($6.5 million) government-owned home was once the residence of David Blunkett, a former cabinet minister and member of parliament. The blind politician lived here with his seeing-eye dog, and it is in its rooms that he conducted an infamous love affair that led to his resignation. Now the fancy pad is the latest in a series of empty multimillion-dollar mansions that Guard and his band of homeless Londoners have squatted in to raise awareness of all the vacant properties nearby that could be used to house homeless people, the group says.

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