Scotland Yard is investigating a serious assault on the founder of Ryanair, Dr Tony Ryan, at his London home at the weekend during which he was punched and money and jewellery were stolen.
Dr Ryan was left "covered in blood" after the incident, during which he was repeatedly hit as he refused to reveal the combination for a safe, according to one account.
A spokesman for Scotland Yard said last night it was too early to say if the men who carried out the attack were members of a gang of so-called "Rolex robbers" who have targeted wealthy London inhabitants and struck more than 300 times this year.
Dr Ryan, whose personal wealth is estimated at £150 million, was attacked at his home in Cadogan Square, Chelsea, on Saturday afternoon. Police officers investigating the assault were still trying to piece together the exact movements of Dr Ryan and the details of the assault last night but it is understood that he was attacked as he left his apartment in a house in Cadogan Square.
He was punched in the face and pushed to the floor. Earlier Dr Ryan and a woman friend, who has not been named, had been shopping in the city. According to the police account of events, she returned to the apartment first, stayed for a few minutes, and then left before he arrived home.
Dr Ryan went back to the house at about 5.20 p.m. but when he went to leave about 20 minutes later he was assaulted by two men who were already inside his apartment.
"We do not know how they got in or when they got in," a spokesman for Scotland Yard said last night.
However, once the men pulled Dr Ryan back inside his house they demanded the combination of his safe and when he refused to tell them he was punched and pushed to the floor.
A neighbour, who did not want to be named, said Dr Ryan was "covered in blood. . . they just kept hitting him to make him tell them the combination and only stopped when the alarm went off."
The neighbour also claimed that two men had been seen loitering in the square during the previous week.
The value of the jewellery - a pearl necklace, a diamond brooch, diamond earrings and a diamond ring - is not known, but a spokeswoman for Dr Ryan said yesterday u400. £400 in cash was also stolen.
Dr Ryan, the son of a train driver from Tipperary, who rode out the collapse of GPA's share floatation and heavy losses at Ryanair in the 1980s, was back at his desk in Dublin yesterday. "It is work as usual," said his spokeswoman, Ms Mary Finan.
"He is back at work and he didn't seem to be too shaken. He was in a bit of shock at the time but he is fine now. He didn't have to go to hospital."