Nicole Farhi mugged on doorstep

Nicole Farhi (pictured), one of the leading names in British fashion, has been mugged late at night on the doorstep of her North London home. The thieves, believed to be part of a gang targeting her neighbourhood, had apparently laid in wait for her and made off with £8,000 in cash and jewellery. Friends of the 61-year-old designer say that she has been left severely "traumatised" by the ordeal, so much so that she is unable to return to work and cannot talk about the incident herself.

Speaking on her behalf, her housekeeper said: "She was on her own. We were all in bed when she came home. It was very distressing for her and she was very traumatised by what happened. She has been in bed because of the shock."

Farhi lives with her husband, the playwright and theatre director Sir David Hare, in a detached, period property in Frognal, just off Hampstead High Street, where homes sell for upwards of £3m. The attack came just before this week’s National Theatre opening of The Year of Magical Thinking, in which Hare directs Vanessa Redgrave in a powerful adaptation of Joan Didion's memoir.