Leona Lewis settles into new pad in the US

Leona Lewis has moved into a £1.8 million house in California that she splashed the cash on in September, a world away from the Hackney streets that she grew up on.

The former X Factor winner is now based in Los Angeles so it makes sense for her to have a place of her own, although it is much more lavish than the last property that she bought - a £120,000 flat in Hackney.

Lewis has good reason to be celebrating too, after seeing second album Echo fly to the top of the charts.

Her first album also reached number one in the UK and sold more than six million units.

The songstress' LA home is an impressive four-bedroom, Tuscan-style mansion, with a guest wing and a pool, which has a waterfall and hot tub in it.

It has been reported that one feature of the house that she liked is the security system, after the glamorous singer was stalked by a fan when she was living in east London.

Love from Sharon Stock