Bernard Magrez attacked in his home

The owner of Pape Clement, Bernard Magrez, was attacked by armed thieves in his home in Bordeaux in the early hours of Friday morning.

The 81 year old was surprised by four or five men between three and four o’clock this morning (12 Janaury) at his home near the centre of Bordeaux and is reportedly shaken but otherwise unhurt.

The gang were reportedly armed with a knife, a screwdriver and very possibly a handgun.

According to local paper Sud-Ouest, Magrez was tied up while the thieves raided his home, making off with a collection of very valuable watches, some money, pieces of art and one of his cars.

He was freed towards 7 o’clock and the police were called. An investigation is on-going.

A millionaire businessman and the owner of several estates in Bordeaux, Magrez was unfortunately a likely target for violent criminals. France has suffered a spate of armed robberies in recent times, most recently a brazen jewel heist at the Ritz in Paris earlier this week – although the jewels have since been recovered and most of the perpetrators caught.

Wineries and even collectors have not been spared either. Last year a gang made ingenious use of the Paris catacombs to break into the cellar of a wealthy collector and make off with €250,000 worth of wine; while in 2014, one of France’s foremost wine collectors, Michel-Jack Chasseuil, was held at gunpoint in his own home by a gang that wanted to raid his cellar – in the end they fled more or less empty-handed, foiled by the armoured doors and sophisticated security measures.