Met chief says Blaine must pay

London's most senior police officer today refused to pay for heightened security measures at illusionist David Blaine's starvation stunt.

Tens of thousands of people have flocked to see Blaine suspended in a Plexiglass box near Tower Bridge.

However, there have been numerous attacks on the box, by people using everything from eggs to golf balls.

Last week the assaults became more serious when an apparent attempt was made to sever vital support cables.

Today Met Commissioner Sir John Stevens announced he was not prepared to pay for the cost of policing the magician's stunt.

He said: "We have asked the people who have been staging the event to pay for the policing. It's important to say that there has been a considerable expense. We have to consider the public order implications."

Sir John was speaking today at a meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority in which he was asked why football clubs in London should not meet the £6million bill for policing matches.

He said: "This is going to be an area which is going to expand. We have to be quite tough about this."

The cost of Blaine's stunt is expected to run to tens of thousandsof pounds. It seems the 30-year-old millionaire and his backers badly misjudged the British reaction.

There have been scuffles with rival television crews, protesters and Sir Paul McCartney. The star shoved an Evening Standard photographer during an early-hours visit to see Blaine. He also swore repeatedly at the media and a fan who asked for an autograph.

Blaine has his own security team in place, but they have been criticised for being heavy-handed with the public.

One of his US publicists said last week: "What we saw appalled

us. David is a huge star, a brand name in America on which an entire campaign was based.

"Suddenly, across the Atlantic, all the hard work and planning was being blown away. It left us dumbfounded."