A group has claimed responsibility for attacking the home of former bank boss Sir Fred Goodwin and warned “this is just the beginning”.
Windows were smashed at the Edinburgh villa and a car parked in the driveway was also damaged.
Sir Fred and his family were not living at the property at the time but the former RBS chief was said to be “shaken” by news of the attack and his friends said those responsible had “gone too far”.
Two emails sent to the Edinburgh Evening News in the early hours of the morning appeared to take responsibility for the vandalism.
Sent from an email account called bankbossesarecriminals@mail.com, one said: “We are angry that rich people, like him, are paying themselves a huge amount of money, and living in luxury, while ordinary people are made unemployed, destitute and homeless.
“This is a crime. Bank bosses should be jailed. This is just the beginning.”
The attack was caught on CCTV cameras at Sir Fred’s home and the footage was handed to police, sources said, adding that officers had arrived within three minutes.
The windows of a Mercedes were also smashed.
Sir Fred, ex-chief executive of Royal Bank Of Scotland (RBS), was criticised after he was given a pension worth £700,000 a year, despite the bank being bailed-out by the Government.
One of Britain’s leading thinkers has told Sky News that the attack on Sir Fred’s home is a “wake up call” to the people at the very top of our society.
There are rumours he may be in Spain but no one has seen him for quite some time.”
She added: “He’s refused to give up his pension and a lot of people see him as the face of the banking crisis and there is a lot of anger towards him.”
An RBS spokesman said: “There are security arrangements in place for Sir Fred, as is normal practice for departing executives.”
The former RBS chief executive, who stepped down from the post last October, rejected Government pressure to accept a reduction in his package.
He insisted that changes to the early retirement deal he negotiated when he was forced out in the autumn were “not warranted”.
The massive payout was branded “obscene” and “grotesque” by MPs and “unjustifiable and unacceptable” by Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Dubbed “Fred the Shred” for his ruthless cost-cutting, Sir Fred boasted of catapulting RBS “to the top of the premier league” with a £49bn deal to capture Dutch rival ABN Amro in 2007.
But the acquisition proved disastrous for RBS as the credit crunch gripped markets – exposing the bank’s weak balance sheet and bringing the firm to the brink of collapse.
RBS is now nearly 70%-owned by the taxpayer after a £20bn bail-out. Last month, the bank unveiled a record £24.1bn loss and plans to raise up to £25.5bn from the taxpayer.
