British-born wife of Syrian dictator 'hiding in the UK with their three children'

The wife of the Syrian dictator was last night reported to have fled to Britain as violence escalated in the Middle Eastern country.

Asma Assad, 35, is said to be living in a luxury safe house in London or the Home Counties with the couple’s three children.

She is believed to be paying her bills with some of the £40billion fortune that her husband, President Bashar al-Assad, has smuggled abroad.

Mrs Assad, a London-born former City banker, has not been seen in public since the start of the brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters in Syria which has led to hundreds of deaths.

Arab news organisations last night reported that Mrs Assad, who was once nicknamed the ‘Desert Rose’ by Vogue magazine, may have been in London for up to three weeks.

A high-ranking Arab diplomatic source said Mrs Assad, who holds dual British and Syrian citizenship, was warned ‘to get out as soon as you can’ as the bloodshed increased. ‘Her first reaction was to get to London because of her family there,’ the source said.

‘Her evacuation was carried out under conditions of immense secrecy but she is now safely her with her children and surrounded by security guards.

‘Clearly her presence could cause huge embarrassment to the British, so none of this has been made public.

Last night there was no answer at the pebble-dash terraced house in Acton, West London, where Mrs Assad grew up.

A Mercedes with diplomatic plates was parked outside the home where her father, consultant cardiologist Fawaz Akhras, and mother, Sahar Otri, a retired diplomat, still live. Mrs Assad studied at a church school in Acton and King’s College, London.

She later joined JP Morgan but quit to marry al-Assad in 2000, the year he succeeded his father as leader of Syria.

In Damascus she was living under the tightest security with her husband, who has become a hate figure after using his army to kill and maim protesters.

According to Human Rights International, up to 800 civilians have been murdered since the start of the revolt in mid-March.