Group claims attack on Goodwin's home

LONDON (Reuters) - A group calling itself "Bank Bosses Are Criminals" claimed responsibility on Wednesday for an attack on the Edinburgh home of former RBS boss Sir Fred Goodwin overnight in which windows were smashed and a car damaged.

The group emailed local papers, saying "this is just the beginning."

The email read: "Fred Goodwin's house in Edinburgh, was attacked this morning. 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."

Police said the statement was signed "Moira McLeod."

Goodwin, 50, left the bank with an annual pension of around 700,000 pounds last October after the government bailed it out.

His refusal to repay the pension, despite leading the bank into Britain's biggest ever corporate failure, has triggered both public and political fury.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has described the payment as "unacceptable" and the government is weighing legal action to claw back the money.

Police said Goodwin's large detached house was attacked in the early hours. No one has been arrested. A spokesman declined to say whether Goodwin and his family were home at the time.

Three ground floor windows were smashed as well as the back window and passenger window of a Mercedes saloon parked in the driveway, according to a BBC report.

RBS, which has its headquarters in Edinburgh, said it was providing security for Goodwin's home at a cost of around 290 pounds per month.

"It is normal RBS practice to provide such arrangements for departing senior executives," the company said in a statement.

(Reporting by Peter Griffiths; John Bowker and Stefano Ambrogi)