Squatters occupy Colonel Gaddafi’s London family home

A group calling themselves ‘Topple The Tyrant’ have broken into Colonel Gaddafi’s London mansion as a protest against the despot’s regime.

The squatters have been occupying the £11 million property in Hampstead since this lunchtime when the unfurled a banner reading “Out Of London, Out Of Libya”.

They told The London Evening Standard one of the first things they did after breaking into the sumptuous property was to turn on the TV to the Arabic news channel Al Jazeera.

In a later statement they said: “We didn’t trust the British government to properly seize the Gaddafi regime’s corrupt assets, so we took matters into our own hands.

“In the meantime we want to welcome refugees from the conflict in Libya and those fleeing tyranny and oppression across the world.

“We stand in solidarity with the Libyan people.”

The eight-bedroomed neo-Georgian property is awash with luxury, boasting a swimming pool, sauna room, Jacuzzi and suede-lined cinema room.

It was purchased by Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, 38 – Colonel Gaddafi’s favourite son – in 2009 and was recently put up for sale for an undisclosed sum before being taken off the market.

The sprawling property, in Winnington Close, Hampstead Garden Suburb, is close to Bishops Avenue – so called ‘billionaires row’.

It was bought mortgage free by Capitana Seas Limited, a holding company registered in the British Virgin Islands.