Second woman claims Beckham played away from home

Published on Sunday 11 April 2004 01:00

A SECOND woman went public last night to claim she had an affair with England soccer captain David Beckham.

Malaysian-born Sarah Marbeck alleged she had a fling with the married superstar for up to two years and even slept with him in a hotel being used by the England team.

The new claims came as Beckham’s former personal assistant, Rebecca Loos, spoke for the first time of her allegations of an affair with the father-of-two.

Both women were speaking in the News of the World and the allegations will pile more pressure on Beckham, who has faced a week of claims about his private life.

Sources close to the millionaire midfielder and his wife, Victoria, declined to comment last night, adding only that the matter would be looked at today. Beckham, 28, has already dismissed Loos’ claims as "ludicrous". Victoria, also known as Posh, is expected to join her husband in Spain tomorrow.

Marbeck, the daughter of a barrister, claims to have twice slept with Beckham and that he sent her explicit text messages for at least a year.

The 29-year-old, who lives in Australia, said she first met the star at a party in Singapore in July 2001 where he was on a pre-season tour with his then club, Manchester United.

She claims he invited her to his hotel room where they had sex and that the pair met again the following March in Leeds.

Marbeck claims she met Beckham in the tunnel of Leeds United’s ground, Elland Road, after the England and Italy clash there on March 27.

She alleges she was later invited to Oulton Hall Hotel near the city where the team were staying and they slept together for a second time. She told the newspaper: "Sleeping with David Beckham was a momentous day for me, not just a one night stand.

"I certainly didn’t take our affair lightly and nor did he. This is probably the most famous father, family man and husband in the world and he changed my life."

The News of the World has also published explicit text messages the model claims Beckham sent her - something Loos claims to have happened to her as well. Some of the alleged texts reveal Beckham was nicknamed Peter Pan, Marbeck was Tinkerbell and Victoria was Wendy, all from the famous children’s story.

Marbeck claims the affair fizzled out but that she spoke to Beckham on the phone as late as August last year.

In a separate interview, former PA Loos claims to have slept with Beckham in the same hotel bed he shared with Victoria when first staying in Spain. The 26-year-old is understood to have sold her story to the News of the World for 350,000 in a deal involving publicist Max Clifford.

Allegations of an affair between her and Beckham were first reported by the newspaper last week, sparking a week of intense publicity.

She claims to have first slept with the footballer, her then boss, in September last year at the Santa Mauro hotel in Madrid and that he bedded her a further three times between then and December.

Speaking for the first time, she told the newspaper today: "What happened between me and David was more than just sex. He needed a woman to be with him and to help him through a difficult, lonely spell in his life."

She added: "I thought I was special to David and the only girl in the world this devoted family man would stray for. Now I know how wrong I was." Loos said she was donating a large sum of her fee to an orphan charity.

Beckham spent a short holiday with his wife and two sons, Brooklyn and Romeo, at the French ski resort of Courchevel earlier this week but has since returned to Spain.

He is expected to play for his club Real Madrid against Athletico Osasuna today and Victoria is said to be joining him.

It is not known whether the children will also be there.