A PROFESSIONAL beggar who lived in a £300,000 Fulham flat has been arrested again.

Simon Wright was spotted in Leicester Square after magistrates last month handed him an Asbo forbidding him from begging anywhere in the capital.

The 37-year-old provoked an outcry last month after it was revealed he was raking in £50,000 a year from people’s generosity. He would sit in ragged clothes outside a NatWest bank in Putney High Street claiming to be homeless and hungry before returning to his £300,000 flat in Fulham High Street.

Westminster Council street wardens spotted the criminal outside the Empire cinema on July 9 and alerted police. After street warden Tom Walsh revealed his true identity, Wright was arrested for breach of his Asbo. Less than half an hour after being bailed, Wright returned to the set up a pitch in nearby Coventry Street.

Councillor Nickie Aiken, the Westminster Council’s cabinet member for community protection, said: "It is his sheer audacity that anyone would find so galling. A lot of people handing him money won’t be earning anywhere near the £75,000 you would need to make before tax to take home the amount he does.

"So, once again, we urge people not to pay money to people on the streets. Even those who are genuine cases should not be encouraged to do so. Our teams will go out and offer help to anyone who is in real need. People would be better off offering money to homelessness charities who can take them in and start helping them rebuild their lives."

Wright is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates on July 25 charged with breaching his Asbo.