Poor Tom. He's had a lot of people violating his perimeter of late. The last time it was a drunk house guest of a neighbour who "got lost" and decided to clamber up his wall. This time it was an (alleged) armed intruder. Only there was no intruder at all.

The alarm was raised in a call which is now believed to have been a prank after members of the Los Angeles Police Department arrived at the Beverly Hills estate to find nothing suspicious, according to TMZ.

Tom and his family were not at home and police were greeted by his bemused security officers and a chef.

Recently a 12-year-old boy was arrested in relation to similar incidents which occurred at the homes of Ashton Kutcher and Justin Bieber.

Police were called to the 34-year-old Two And A Half Men star and the 18-year-old Canadian popstar's houses, along with a number of other celebrity owned properties over the past few months, after they received anonymous calls claiming the properties were being robbed and in some cases victims had been taken hostage.

Insiders have revealed that the boy - who has been accused of making the prank calls - lives with his mother in what has been described as an "incredibly dysfunctional" home and refused to attend school recently because he prefers communicating with other hackers on his computer but arrangements are now being made to move him into a more stable foster home. With no phone line or internet access.