- Daniel Prattley is a luxury butler specializing in vacation homes in the UK and France.
- Despite his love for the job, Prattley has faced “terrifying” experiences during home invasions.
- He has been gassed by burglars on three separate occasions.
Daniel Prattley’s career as a luxury butler has its downsides, and some of them are on the more severe side.
Prattley became a full-time butler in 2005 after being inspired by the late Joan Rivers.
He worked as a theatre manager at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre, where he met Rivers in the 1990s. She asked him to assist her in hosting after-parties, some of which were attended by royals and celebrities.
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Rivers was impressed with Prattley’s skills, which inspired him to pursue butler work on a permanent basis. Today, Prattley works for wealthy families in their vacation homes across the UK, France, and other countries. He shares glimpses inside some of the homes and documents his career journey on TikTok, where he has amassed a following of over 53,500.
Prattley’s encounters with burglaries as a butler
While Prattley loves his job, he has also faced “terrifying” experiences with burglars at luxury vacation homes.
“I’ve been gassed in my sleep three times by burglars,” Prattley revealed.
He recounts the first time he got gassed, waking up the next day feeling disoriented and sick. Prattley believed it was the flu or food poisoning, but later realized he had been gassed as a “test run” by intruders.
Burglars often use anesthetic-based gas administered through air conditioning intake vents, as explained by an operations director for security firm SRX in a 2015 BBC interview. Celebrities like Jenson Button and Patrick Vieira have also claimed to have been gassed while vacationing in France.
These gases are typically used in hospitals to sedate patients during surgeries or procedures, according to the National Library of Medicine. Victims of gas-based burglaries typically wake up groggy, only to find their belongings stolen during the night.
“It can be quite terrifying. I don’t mean to scare anyone – if it’s you and me traveling to the south of France, we won’t experience this. But crime at the high net-worth level is more sophisticated,” Prattley commented, highlighting that high-profile individuals are more susceptible to these types of crimes and home invasions.
According to a Daily Mail report, Simon Cowell sold his home in Holland Park, London, due to security threats, including allegations that criminals had sold the exact lock to his front door. Other celebrities like Benedict Cumberbatch, Sandra Bullock, and Robert De Niro have also experienced home invasions.
On another occasion, Prattley recalls staying at a cottage on a luxury villa’s grounds when he heard tapping on his window in the middle of the night. The next morning, he received a call from the owner’s alarm company informing him that the intruders had disabled the alarm system, although nothing was missing from the property.
When the police arrived, the intruders had vanished. The officers informed Prattley that this was likely a “test” by the intruders to assess law enforcement response time.
“It’s an occupational hazard, I guess,” Prattley remarked.
Nevertheless, Prattley has learned from these experiences and now implements certain safety rules. He avoids staying at homes where he doesn’t know the owners and instead opts for separate accommodation in a nearby village. If he does decide to stay at a property, it must be well-secured.
