Hooded gang in raid on £6m Beckham mansion
After David’s candid comments about their marriage...
CAUGHT on chilling security footage, three masked burglars try to break into Victoria and David Beckham’s Cotswolds mansion on Friday.
Police were called to the £6million home in Great Tew, Oxfordshire, after the couple’s 24-hour surveillance team spotted the intruders on CCTV.
Mrs Beckham is said to have been particularly upset by the incident, news of which emerged yesterday – only days after her husband had openly discussed their marriage in a TV interview, saying it was ‘always hard work’.
Following the attempted breakin, guests at the nearby Soho Farmhouse private members’ club also spotted the men and ran to scare them off.
Now the Beckhams have been forced to beef up security at their country home, where the family spend many of their weekends.
The burglars, who used a ladder to look into the windows of the upstairs of the house, ran from the scene and are still at large.
One of the men was dressed head to toe in a hooded all-in-one outfit, with a balaclava. Another wore jeans and a black hat and scarf. The Beckhams are said to have been on their way to Australia with Romeo, 16, Cruz, 13, and Harper, seven, at the time.
A source said the couple are ‘devastated’, adding: ‘ They are extremely protective of their family and their home life so the thought that people would intrude on that is just so upsetting for them.
‘This has hit them hard. Victoria has been upset for the past couple of days about this, it has been so tough for her. It is frightening to think someone would be intruding on their personal space.
‘David hates the fact he has to have such hi-tech and extremely tight security around him.
‘He would love to be normal but his number one priority is to protect his wife, children and wider family. He is absolutely furious that he now has to increase his security even more.’
Guard dogs, motion sensor alarms and regular patrols have now been brought in to prevent any further incidents at their home, which they have been refurbishing for nearly two years.
The attempted break-in comes after the ex-footballer claimed his 19-year marriage to the former Spice Girl is ‘always hard work’.
Mrs Beckham, 44, seemed unimpressed as the couple arrived in Sydney yesterday. She looked stony-faced while her husband smiled as he shook a flight attendant’s hand.
In an interview yesterday with Australian TV show The Sunday Project, which was previewed on Thursday, Beckham spoke openly about his marriage.
The star, 43, said the couple’s main focus is to ‘protect their children’ and revealed he mostly managed to ‘ignore’ negative stories about their marriage. Asked about his relationship with the fashion designer, he said: ‘I think marriage is always about hard work.
‘Your children, they want your time and they deserve your time. We are hard-working and we feel that that is the right way to bring up our children – to show them that you have to work really hard to be successful. We’ve been married for a long time now.
‘To have been married for the amount of time we have, it’s always hard work, everybody knows that, but you make it work … despite difficult situations like travelling away, being away from each other, you make it work.’
Beckham complimented his wife on her fashion career. The pair are worth £340million, according to the Sunday Times Rich List.
Four months ago they were forced to deny ‘bizarre and embarrassing’ rumours that their marriage was over after speculation that they were getting divorced.
When asked if he gets sick of the media attention, Beckham said: ‘No, I’ve grown to ignore some of the negative stuff that’s said.
‘I think if you know each other well, if you know you’ve got great friends, great family behind you … The thing we have to do is to protect our children. We are very proud of our family.’
It was thought Mrs Beckham had checked into an exclusive spa in Germany after the interview was previewed because she was so distressed by her husband’s comments.
A source told the Sun on Sunday she was ‘absolutely devastated’ when the remarks about their marriage were released.
‘She has no idea why he would say such insensitive things and publicly embarrass her like this,’ they said. ‘As you can imagine, it was as if a nuclear bomb had gone off in the Beckham household when she found out.
‘She was in pieces, and spent the next two days crying. To say it’s not been the best of weeks is an understatement.’
Mrs Beckham visited the £950-anight stress management clinic Villa Stephanie in Baden-Baden on Thursday, and on Friday posted photos from her visit on Instagram, telling her 23million followers she had an ‘amazing experience’ at the spa, which specialises in ‘body and mind detoxes’. In one selfie, she posed while out hiking in a cap, sports top and trainers.
A spokesman for the Beckhams declined to comment.
‘Absolutely devastated’