McLaren-Honda driver Jenson Button not the only high-profile celebrity burgled in the French Riviera

McLaren-Honda race car driver Jenson Button and his wife Jessica Michibata were the latest victims of burglary in the French Riviera. Properties worth £300,000 (AU$630,000) were reportedly stolen from the couple’s rented French holiday villa by thieves who gassed them while they slept. Apparently, Button and wife were not the only high-profile celebrities whose house had been broken into.

Private investigator Patrick Boffa, who is based on the Côte d’Azur, told the Sunday Telegraph that he had worked on a couple of similar cases that involved perpetrators who used anaesthetic gas and rendered their victims unconscious before carrying out the robbery. Mr Boffa said that the incident took place a few minutes away from Button and Michibata's rented property.

French fashion designer Daniel Hechter and the late novelist Gérard de Villiers were both burgled at their properties. The thieves stole a collective amount of items worth £1700,000 (AU$ 360,000) from de Villiers and Hechter.

According to a report by British newspaper The Sun, two men broke into the Saint-Tropez villa and stole a number of items including Michibata’s engagement ring reportedly worth AU$520,000. The couple only found out that they were robbed when they woke up the next morning.

A source close to the Formula One star, who won the Drivers’ Championship in 2009, said that the police officers were convinced that the culprits rendered them unconscious by letting anaesthetic gas pass through the house’s air conditioning units. The source added that gassing the house had been progressively becoming the most common way for criminals to enter and rob properties.

Button is almost certain that they were indeed gassed by the thieves, the source further explained. He said that the thieves had broken into the Button and Michibata's room. The couple including some of their friends, who were staying in the same villa, didn't realise that they were robbed until next morning.

Fortunately, no one was harmed after the burglary although Button felt a bit worried because his wife and some of her girl friends were once left by themselves alone in the villa. Button and Michibata tried to identify the thieves through the CCTV and left the property the next day.

The British racing driver is currently on a break after a successful race at the 2015 Hungarian Grand Prix on July 26. He finished ninth and earned two points for this year’s World Drivers’ Championship, where he is currently ranked 17 th . The next race will be the 2015 Belgian Grand Prix, which happens on Aug. 23.

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