Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have hired former SAS guards to protect their home in the South of France.

The couple - who raise six kids, Maddox, 10, Pax, seven, Zahara, six, Shiloh, five, and three-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne together - have enlisted the services of the ex-members of Special Air Service unit and have also installed a £150 million state-of-the-art security system after learning organised crime gangs from Russia and Italy are targeting rich foreigners in the area.

An insider told The Sun newspaper: "Brad has hired a crack team of ex-SAS guys to protect them and they watch over the property like hawks around the clock.

"They can see what is happening as all the cameras hooked up to the TV screens have movement sensors. They work via wi-fi so can't be disarmed."

The property - which boasts his-and-hers gyms, a Jacuzzi, sauna, billiards room and a huge banqueting suite - now is said to look like "something out of a James Bond movie" after being kitted out with fingerprint recognition gadgets.

The source added to The Sun newspaper: "There's even fingerprint recognition to go from certain parts of the house to the next. Every inch is covered. It's like something out of a James Bond movie."