Beckham invented baby grab court tale, says book

Allegations in an unauthorised biography of David and Victoria Beckham that the footballer invented the story of an attempted snatch of his son, Brooklyn, will not be investigated unless the book's author produces evidence, police said yesterday.

Allegations in an unauthorised biography of David and Victoria Beckham that the footballer invented the story of an attempted snatch of his son, Brooklyn, will not be investigated unless the book's author produces evidence, police said yesterday.

In his book, Posh and Becks, serialised in next week's Hello! magazine, Andrew Morton suggests that not everyone believes Mr Beckham's story - of a crazed fan lunging at Brooklyn as they came out of Harrods - to a court which was hearing his appeal against a sentence for speeding.

The Beckhams have denied the claim. "Victoria and David Beckham strongly refute suggestions that an 'incident' involving Brooklyn outside Harrods was in any way made up or fabricated," their agent said. "The book does not actually claim that the incident did not happen but simply reports that some people do not believe it."

Mr Beckham was banned from driving for eight months in December 1999 after being caught speeding, despite his claims that he was being pursued by a photographer.

At his appeal hearing, Mr Beckham cited the Harrods incident as evidence of a similar ordeal. He said an attempt to snatch Brooklyn had been made two days earlier.

Judge Woodward and two magistrates accepted Mr Beckham's defence and agreed that his licence should not be endorsed, though the conviction stood and he had to pay an £800 fine and £190 costs.

The claims, if ever proven to be true, could represent an offence of perjury on Mr Beckham's part. But the Greater Manchester Police force is privately sceptical that they could be proved and will not investigate unless Mr Morton brings evidence to them.