The Scarlet scare for Benedict Cumberbatch

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Benedict Cumberbatch has called in the police and asked for more security over a woman stalker who has been leaving red ribbons at his home.

According to a source, Cumberbatch called in for police and security experts for his safety, reports mirror.co.uk.

"Benedict wants to be safe rather than sorry. He's spoken to the police and now he's just making sure every precaution has been taken. He's also had a quiet word with the theatre management," the Sunday People quoted the source as saying.

With security beefed up at London's Barbican Theatre, where Benedict is appearing as Hamlet in a play, the police have issued the woman with a notice - which can be used as evidence in a future prosecution for harassment.

The obsessed fan has made several trips to the Sherlock actor's home. On two occasions, she left red ribbons with one tied to the family car and one to a window of the house.

They are thought to be a reference to Arthur Conan Doyle's first Sherlock Holmes novel A Study in Scarlet in which the Victorian sleuth says: "There's the scarlet thread of murder running through the colourless skin of life."