'Girls like you, I kill': Alex Scott reveals chilling kidnap threat from Moscow taxi driver

19 January 2023, 09:50 | Updated: 19 January 2023, 11:14

Football broadcaster Alex Scott was threatened with kidnap and murder while working in Moscow at the World Cup in Russia, she has revealed.

Writing in a new book, BBC pundit and former footballer Ms Scott said how the incident happened when she took an Uber back to her hotel after a game at the 2018 tournament, rather than a pre-booked car arranged by the corporation.

Ms Scott, 38, said that soon after she got into her Uber the driver said: "Girls like you, I kill."

She said that she desperately told the driver that she had met Russian president Vladimir Putin earlier that day, adding that he was a friend, the Mirror reported.

The World Cup took place before Russia's latest invasion of Ukraine last year, but four years after the Kremlin had annexed Crimea.

Ms Scott wrote in her autobiography, How (Not) To Be Strong: "He looked at me and said – in English – 'Tell them they will never see you again.'

The driver then began speaking in Russian into his phone, which was translated into English. She said that among the threats that came out was a description of "how he takes girls like me, how they never make it home".

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Ms Scott was able to message her agent, to tell them to send out a search party if she was not back at the hotel within 15 minutes.

The former Arsenal and England star said she brought up photos of her meeting with Mr Putin.

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She told the driver: "If I don’t see Putin tomorrow, he will find you," after which the driver changed his mind.