Stalker banned forever from contacting Beckham family
A stalker fixated with David Beckham has been banned from contacting him or his family for the rest of their lives after she tried to collect his daughter from school, claiming to be her real mother.
Sharon Bell, 58, was handed the indefinite stalking protection order after she spent months sending threatening letters and visiting the Beckham family homes in Oxfordshire and west London.
In November last year, Bell arrived at their 11-year-old daughter’s school, claiming: ‘‘I’m Harper’s mother. I’m here to pick her up.’’
During a hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, Beckham, 47, described how he had felt ‘‘helpless’’ when he heard that Bell had been at his daughter’s school.
In a statement read out on his behalf, the former England football captain said: ‘‘I felt helpless and angry that there was nothing I could do. I was very concerned for Harper’s safety.’’
In a statement, his wife Victoria Beckham explained how she had spotted Bell ‘‘looking vacant’’ when she arrived at the school with a security guard to collect her daughter.
She described how the incident had ‘‘upset’’ her daughter, adding: ‘‘I tried to make very little fuss as I’m very worried about the effect it may have on Harper. I tried to protect her and I am worried about her safety.’’
She went on: ‘‘I am very concerned and anxious about Harper going to the park or being taken on school trips.’’
The court heard how the incident had been the culmination of months of stalking by Bell, who was fixated by Beckham, even though they had never met.
In one letter sent in July last year, she wrote: ‘‘I have got your address from a detective agency, I hope you don’t mind. I have feelings for you, David.
‘‘Victoria owes me some money, David, as she said she’s been robbing my bank account for years, which isn’t very nice. I would appreciate it if she wasn’t there.’’
She turned up at the house in Oxfordshire a few days later, but left when security guards told her it was the wrong address.
In September last year, she wrote to Beckham’s west London home, warning him that she was planning to make a visit.
She wrote: ‘‘Please be there, otherwise someone will go to the press and say you both have my roll numbers. Now that wouldn’t look good, would it, as you have got an OBE.
‘‘You said if I write to you first and I’m unarmed (which I will be) then I can come in for a chat and a tea (Earl Grey is my favourite tea). I really want to chat to you, so please can I come in for a chat?
‘‘I just want to talk to you. You owe me that, David (PS I would like to be with you when you have brain surgery to give you a few new brain cells) and your friend Tom Cruise has really upset me, David.
‘‘He has done some terrible things to me.’’
Bell turned up at the property a few days later, the court heard.
The following month she sent another letter in which she said: ‘‘I do love you and have done since we were children.’’
Beckham said he was concerned about her ‘‘escalating’’ behaviour, which he felt was becoming ‘‘erratic and unpredictable’’.
‘‘It made me worried about what she would do next,’’ the former footballer said.
Bell, from Watford, was charged with stalking but did not face a criminal trial because she has a mental disorder.
District Judge Michael Snow said he was satisfied she had carried out the criminal conduct and made an order to detain Bell, who appeared in court by video-link, under the Mental Health Act.
He referred to the ‘‘rather frightening thought’’ of her researching Beckham’s address and the ‘‘chilling words’’ used in her letters.
He also imposed a civil stalking protection order banning Bell from contacting the Beckhams or their four children for the rest of their lives. – Telegraph Group