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The stereotype of a bodyguard as a huge man in a suit, wearing an earpiece and dark glasses, is totally inaccurate these days,' says Laura Webb, a 34-year-old who looks like Meg Ryan's younger sister, but who, in fact, runs an agency, Global Protection, that specialises in female bodyguards. 'Most male and female bodyguards have the same skills, but what a female has – which more and more clients require – is an ability to blend in. If you're working with children, for example, a female can take them to the park or pick them up from school and no one's sure if she's the nanny or the mother, whereas a man – however fantastic he may be – will always stand out. We can sit in a restaurant and look as if we belong there, or go shopping with a client. People think we're a friend, not a heavy. It's much more discreet.'
Few women, of course, will have the traditional bodyguard's build. Yet, according to Webb, this is unimportant. 'Bodyguarding is far more about brain than brawn.
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