Beckham backlash: Critics tear into star for court ruse
DAVID Beckham has been accused of ‘setting a terrible example’ as a role model after escaping a speeding conviction on a technicality.
The former England captain employed the lawyer dubbed ‘Mr Loophole’ after he was accused of driving a £200,000 Bentley 20mph over the speed limit.
Beckham, 43, accepted he had been speeding, but was told on Thursday he would not face action because a notice of intended prosecution was not received until one day after the statutory 14-day time limit.
But safety campaigners and politicians reacted with fury, saying the retired footballer, worth an estimated £339million, used his ‘wealth and influence’ to escape a speeding conviction. The RAC said it was ‘disheartening’ that someone of his stature had appeared to get away with the offence.
The condemnation came as Beckham enjoyed a romantic trip to Paris with his wife Victoria, 44 – splashing out £1,300 on a bottle of wine.
Tory MP Maria Caulfield said: ‘David Beckham’s behaviour is a terrible example for people who look up to him as a hugely successful sporting role model.
‘Given that speeding is the second most deadly contributing factor to road deaths in the UK, he should have put his hands up and admitted he’d made a terrible mistake.
‘Instead of learning from his mistake, he used his wealth and influence to get out of paying the penalty. Perhaps he should meet some of my constituents who have had their lives ruined by speeding drivers.’
Fellow Conservative MP Andrew Percy called on Beckham to make a ‘considerable donation’ of his wealth to support road accident victims.
Meanwhile, the father of a girl who died nine years after being left brain damaged and paralysed by a speeding playboy yesterday said Beckham’s decision to fight the charge demonstrated a ‘lack of contrition’.
Gareth Edwards, a 53-year- old builder from Lichfield, Staffordshire, offered to take Beckham to his daughter Cerys’s grave to show him ‘how the actions of speeding drivers can affect innocent families’.
Cerys had just turned one when multi- millionaire’s son Antonio Boparan, then 19, smashed his 2.5ton Range Rover into her family’s car at 70mph on a street with a 30mph limit in November 2006. She was left unable to speak and needing round the clock care. Cerys died in hospital from a virus in October 2015.
At Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, District Judge Barbara Barnes accepted Beckham’s ticket had not arrived in time and so he could not be convicted. A speed camera had caught the father of four doing 59mph in a 40mph zone on the A40 near Paddington, central London, on January 23. But staff at Bentley, from which Beckham had borrowed the car, said the notice did not arrive until February 7.
Beckham did not attend the hearing and on Thursday night appeared to be celebrating over a £1,300 bottle of French wine. The former footballer and Mrs Beckham posted a number of images on social media enjoying a romantic dinner in Paris.
Citing the 203 fatal collisions in the UK last year where speeding was a factor, RAC road safety spokesman Pete Williams said: ‘It’s particularly disheartening to read of someone else so clearly in the public eye being caught for speeding and also seemingly getting away with it.
‘People in the public eye should also know that they often act as role models, especially to younger people, so any dangerous behaviour like speeding is setting a bad example.’
Beckham’s lawyer Nick Freeman, who counts Sir Alex Ferguson and Andrew Flintoff among his clients, accused prosecutors yesterday of only pursuing the case because of the star’s fame. He said: ‘It was a scandalous waste of taxpayers’ money.’ Mr Freeman also helped Beckham overturn an eight-month driving ban in 1999 after arguing the then Manchester United midfielder was trying to escape the paparazzi.
‘His behaviour is a terrible example’