Cowell finds intruder in bedroom

Simon Cowell was left badly shaken when he found a woman intruder in the bedroom of his £9million home.

News of the telly mogul’s terror emerged yesterday as it was revealed his return to Britain’s Got Talent on Saturday night failed to pull in the viewers.

Yesterday, the 52-year-old multi-millionaire was carrying out an urgent review of security at the London home he once described as “safer than the Bank of England”.

The young woman broke in through a bathroom window at about 10.30pm on Saturday.

She wandered around unchallenged before making her way into Cowell’s bedroom, where he confronted her before calling his security team. She was being questioned by police last night.

Cowell told a friend: “Seeing this woman in my house was like something out of a horror movie. I now know that I need to improve my security. She could have had a gun.”

The telly tycoon will also be turning his attentions to reversing the decline in BGT, which had its worst launch night ever.

It drew an average of 9.3million viewers, 600,000 down on last year, after being hit hard by rival BBC talent contest The Voice.

During the overlap between the shows, The Voice was a clear winner with 9.1 million viewers to only 6.1million for BGT.

The BBC1 show averaged 8.4million, the highest audience for a new Saturday night show in more than a decade.

One BBC insider said: “They’ve played their Get Out of Jail Free card early by bringing Cowell back, and it hasn’t worked.”