POSH & BECKS: THE BODYGUARD'S STORY
Luke Peterson
POSH & BECKS: THE BODYGUARD'S STORY - I TOOK MY LITTLE GIRL FOR A MEAL AT
MCDONALD'S AND SHE BLURTED OUT: DADDY, WHY DO YOU WANT TO KILL BABY
BROOKLYN?
POSH WANTS HER REVENGE ON ME
David's just a warm-hearted guy...Victoria is really tough, with a hard
streak
WITH tears in her eyes, Victoria Beckham said goodbye to the man she trusted
with her baby son's life.
For almost 11 months, Mark Niblett had been Brooklyn Beckham's bodyguard and
shared the daily routine of Britain's top showbiz family.
Now the security expert had decided to move on and thought this was the end
of his dealings with Posh Spice and Becks. He was wrong.
Five weeks later, he was astonished to be arrested on suspicion of
threatening to kill the very people he had been employed to protect.
Niblett's life was to be thrown into turmoil as he became a target of hate
and suspicion among the superstar couple's millions of fans.
Even his own seven-year-old daughter Rebecca confronted him, asking: "Daddy,
why do you want to kill baby Brooklyn?"
He says: "How do you deal with that? I just explained to her that it wasn't
true, that sometimes people say things they don't mean. She believed me but
I could tell it was upsetting her."
Later, it emerged that Niblett, 35, had agreed to co-operate with royal
author Andrew Morton on an unauthorised biography of the Beckhams - a book
the couple were desperate to stop.
Throughout all the court wrangling that followed, Niblett maintained his
silence, but was determined to clear his name of the sickening accusations
that hung over him.
Ten days ago, he was told by Scotland Yard that his bail had been lifted and
he would not be charged with any crime.
Now he has chosen to tell his side of the story - and it is clear from the
outset that, despite his fondness for the "shy and warm-hearted" Becks, he
is no fan of Victoria,
In fact, he is convinced she is furious at him for his part in the Morton
book.
He says: "I feel she is trying to punish me. She is out for revenge. I'd
like it to be all over soon but I don't think it will be. It's like a
vengeance thing for her. She's hurting.
"And yes, if you pushed me, I'll admit I don't like her. She's not my kind
of person at all. She knows how to get what she wants.
"Although she's undoubtedly tough, she's also got a hard streak. You could
definitely say she isn't my favourite Spice Girl."
Niblett's story starts in August 1999 when he walked into the Beckhams'
millionaire life.
"I was approached by a friend who was driving for the Spice Girls," he says,
choosing each word carefully.
"He told me the Beckhams were looking for somebody to look after Brooklyn.
At first it was only meant to be an interim thing while they sought someone
more permanent."
"Obviously, I knew who they were but I'm not one to be starstruck so it
wasn't daunting. I'd been working as a security expert for seven years after
leaving the army and looked after richer and more powerful people than
these, so it wasn't that big a deal.
"I never had a formal interview as such. I first met Victoria at her parents
house in Goff's Oak in Hertfordshire.
"My friend had warned me that the key to getting on with the family was
getting on with her mother, Jackie, and this was apparent from that first
meeting.
"I think David was in pre-season training in Manchester so I didn't actually
meet him before I started. I spent about 20 minutes at Goff's Oak and got
the job.
"The money was about average but I was never given any conditions of
employment. I started working for them the next morning.
"Normally, I'd stay away from showbiz people. Many of of them have a
reputation for being a bit difficult
"It's irregular and unpredictable work and most stars are used to having
everything done for them. I'd heard stories of bodyguards even being sent
out to buy tampons. But Victoria and David were nothing like that.
"And I didn't see the Beckham job lasting beyond two weeks, to be honest.
I'd already got my sets sight on a possible contract in France in
September." It has been widely reported that Niblett's duties included
round-the-clock protection for Brooklyn and he has been photographed on
countless occasions accompanying the family on holidays, shopping trips and
showbiz functions.
He even took a starring role in Victoria's Secrets, his boss's successful TV
show. As Victoria walked around a store, Niblett was clearly visible
shadowing her a few paces behind.
After a while, this kind of exposure began to worry Niblett to the point
where he thought his face was becoming too well known.
Over the next year, the couple endured a number of security scares.
Victoria's weight problems and David's arguments with Man United boss Alex
Ferguson were also making news.
Death threats were sent to their homes in Cheshire and Hertfordshire and in
one particularly harrowing incident, Victoria was warned she was going to be
killed at this year's Brit Awards in March. Last November, it was reported
police had foiled a pounds 1million kidnap plot on Victoria, 26 and
Brooklyn.
And in February this year it was revealed David was being plagued by a
crazed stalker who had broken into their Cheshire apartment block.
A security adviser to a showbiz couple like them would normally expect
Niblett to have been involved in dramatic events like these and to have
liaised with police.
But Niblett was to have very different dealings with them once he had left
his job on May 17.
He says: "My decision to leave was a very straightforward one . I quit
because I wasn't spending enough time with my family. My father James has
been ill for several years and I wanted to be with him. He has a cancerous
growth on his bladder. I lost my mum to cancer in 1986. I was serving in the
military in Northern Ireland and I just wasn't there enough as a son should
be.
"I'm not trying to overdramatise the situation or looking for sympathy - but
that's the way I felt and I expressed this openly to Victoria.
"It's well known that both she and David are very big on the importance of
family so I like to think she would have understood my decision.
"As well as my dad, I have two children and I was hardly seeing them,
either. I've been divorced for five years and I have a very good
relationship with my ex-wife Beverley.
"I have complete access to the children but even so, I was finding I just
wasn't seeing them enough. I was in a high-profile job and it could be
pretty much a 24- hour-a-day job.
"Another factor was that it was so high profile. That's not how I operate. I
had to be the grey man, the guy in the background trying to pre-empt danger.
"That was one of the reasons I agreed to take the job. But now I was in OK!
and Hello! every other week and all over the newspapers every time the
Beckhams were pictured out together.
"When a granny in the corner shop says to you: 'Aren't you Posh Spice's
bodyguard?' you know you're not exactly the grey man anymore.
"I suppose the crunch came during the week of Brooklyn's first birthday.
Along with all the exposure I got that day, it also hit home how my family
were missing out. It was my daughter Rebecca's birthday as well but I was
working and I couldn't see her.
"To be fair to Victoria, she was very kind to Rebecca but you don't
socialise with clients in my business. It's the number one rule.
That was one of the things I most admired about Victoria then - her sense of
the importance of the family. She may not be my kind of person in other
ways, but I respected that. "
Niblett says he gave Posh a letter of resignation in mid-April and
discusssed the reasons why he felt it was time to move on.
"I felt they were happy with that and they knew they couldn't change From
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my mind even though they tried to. We had a good working relationship and we
often discussed plans well into the future. In short, I felt I could be open
with them.
"I offered to stay until they found someone else but Victoria let me go in
mid-May. I left almost immediately.
"I was desperate to spend some quality time at home with my dad. I wanted to
reassess my career.
"I was planning to get out of the security industry. The Beckhams were a
closed chapter as far as I was concerned - I even deleted their numbers from
my mobile. You move on in my business - simple as that."
Niblett now accepts he was naive to think that was the end of it. Just days
after he left, newspapers started to notice that the man who was the
Beckhams' constant companion was no longer around.
He began receiving phone calls from reporters claiming they had been told he
had been sacked.
"I wondered how so many journalists had got my mobile number so easily but I
was so preoccupied with my family I didn't give it much attention.
"I think I told one newspaper that I hadn't been sacked and that I had no
problems with the Beckhams. But the stories started appearing that I'd left
under a cloud and there was a big bust-up. Nothing could be further from the
truth."
At first Niblett put it down to showbiz mischief-making.
He says: "Later, the Beckhams' solicitor left a message on my answer machine
saying there were some issues that needed sorting out and they wanted to
discuss my outstanding payments.
"Most people would be worried by top solicitors calling about 'issues', and
I was no different.
"So I instructed a solicitor to send letters enquiring about some
outstanding matters - but we never heard anything back."
Almost a month after Niblett left the Beckhams' employment, his world was
shattered by a chance remark from a friend in the security business.
"I heard the police were looking for me. You have to remember I'd worked
with the police in London, so I phoned the officer in charge and he said he
was interested in talking to me.
"A friend advised me to consult a solicitor, and he was concerned that if I
agreed to go in and talk, the press might get hold of it. I was edgy. I was
very suspicious.
"My solicitor invited the police into his office to interview me. They said
they wanted to speak to me at the police station under caution.
"My solicitor said: 'If you want to do that, you'll have to arrest him.' So
they did. On June 23, I went to Warrington police station and I was arrested
by Scotland Yard officers.
"It left me shellshocked. I didn't know what was going to happen - whether
I'd be kept in, charged even.
"The police said someone I knew had told them I'd asked him to write a
threatening letter to the Beckhams, but that he'd never sent it. That was
the strength of their evidence. They interviewed me for half an hour. I told
them it was all absolute nonsense.
"I honestly don't know where it came from . I've got my own views on it, and
I know I'll find out one day. I was arrested on suspicion of incitement to
kill and threatening to kill. That's a serious, serious thing. It was
devastating. It was very hurtful.
"Obviously, I'd spent a lot of time with Brooklyn and grown attached to him.
Why would I want to kill him? I thought it was sick.
"The police asked me my opinion of Victoria. They were obviously looking for
a motive. I said in my business you don't have to like a client to work for
them.
"My solictor just laughed at the accusations. As we left he told me: 'You'll
never hear any more on this.' I was bailed until August 9.
"I was about to go on holiday and the police said I could still go. I was
amazed by their casual attitude to it all. I'd still got my passport.
"They never searched my car or my house. They never went through my clothes.
Nothing. I had a laptop but they never asked to examine it or anything.
"I went away to Toulouse to visit a friend. I wanted to go out there for
three or four weeks to help him work on his house, so my solicitor asked if
the bail could be lifted. The police said 'no'.
"When I went back to Warrington station, the duty sergeant re-bailed me. No
further questions. They even asked if I'd like a month's bail or two months.
I couldn't believe it.
"I was starting to get p****d off then. Everyone was talking about me. I
couldn't go to the gym. People in the industry were asking me what was going
on. I felt I was getting a bad smell.
"No one had been charged with the Beckham threats, and I felt I was being
made to look a scapegoat.
"The first time I came out of the police station back in June, I said to an
officer: 'You can't seriously think I've done this?'
"His exact words in front of my solicitor were: 'My hands have been tied, I
had to come up here.' What do you read into that?"
Niblett pauses here. He's a careful man and a document outlining these
grievances is lodged with the Police Complaints Commission.
Ten days ago, this particular nightmare came to an end when a simple phone
call from Scotland Yard to his solictors informed him he no longer had a
case to answer and that the bail was lifted unconditionally
He says: "It was a huge weight off my shoulders. But the anger was there all
along. At one point, the police said they were waiting for DNA results and
fingerprint analysis on the death threats. That was exasperating. For
obvious reasons, there was every chance they'd find traces of my DNA there.
"I don't know if the police are still investigating the death threats. I've
no idea if they've had any more sent. I don't really care now - but I'd like
to know if they've nailed anyone."
But as news leaked out about the criminal investigation and as the High
Court battle over Morton's book heightened, Niblett found himself becoming
the most wanted man on Fleet Street. He admits he's no Max Cliffford, so he
adopted a policy of saying nothing. This only increased the price on his
head.
"I changed my phone numbers four times and lived in at least four different
flats as I was being hounded.
"I don't know if someone tipped the Press off. But a few days after I left,
it was all over the papers that I'd been sacked and I left under a cloud.
"They said that we'd had rows after some death threats. I wanted to pick the
phone up and put the record straight but I had a feeling I was fighting a
stronger force.
"I was surprised by the amount of attention. Who am I? I'm nobody. I was
just doing a job. I was meant to be the grey man and blend in - the next
minute I'm all over the newspapers.
"There were people parked outside my father's house trying to take his
picture, hassling him for his opinion. They were parked outside my ex-wife's
house. She was offered pounds 50,000 by a magazine to talk about why we
split up. I had private investigators following me. I'm not being big-headed
but it's my job to spot if I'm being followed so it wasn't exactly difficult
for me to see.
"I confronted a couple but they wouldn't say who they were working for. I
had my own suspicions on that score.
"Then my daughter Rebecca started asking me questions. They live in a small
village and the kids at school were asking her: 'Why is your daddy trying to
hurt baby Brooklyn?' They were all into the Spice Girls.
"I remember we were having dinner in McDonald's like single parents do and
Rebecca said: 'Daddy, why do you want to kill baby Brooklyn?'
"My son is only four-and-a-half so he wasn't really affected. He just knew
that strangers were knocking on mummy's door and he was scared.
"Beverley was overawed by it all. She knew who I worked for but I'd always
kept it separate. Now it was on her doorstep. If she'd had any bitterness
towards me, I'm sure people would have paid well to hear her express it. But
we get on fine now and our main concern is our children.
"But I saw some of the letters she's had offering money and it must have
been very tantalising.
"She's got two children and was studying at night school at the time. As for
my my dad, he's 77, he's ill and he was picking the papers up and saying:
'What's going on, son?'" With all that was happening to him, Niblett - like
his former employer Victoria Beckham - soon began to feel the strain.
"I was depressed, I was so stressed my eyes were bleeding. I had bouts of
flu that kept me in bed for a week.
"I couldn't sleep. I'm used to dealing with stress after Northern Ireland
and some of my bodyguard work, but this was a new area for me.
"I got abuse from ignorant people. I never used to defend myself, I just
shrugged and said: 'Judge me when it's all over.'
When I first left, I kept getting abusive phone calls. The phone would ring
and when I answered, the caller would say 'w****er' then hang up.
"I live in the North West and there are a lot of Man United fans up here.
I'd get hassled in pubs and in the street but I didn't blame them. People
believe what they read and they were reading that I was the devil."
It would be easy to feel sympathy for Niblett. He's an attractive
personality, affable and plain-speaking. He also plays the victim well. The
poor man battling with the might of a multi-millionaire family. The thing
that lets him down, of course, is that he has sold his story to Andrew
Morton.
Victoria has told how she was physically sick at the thought of him telling
her secrets.
That won't go down well with Spice Girls fans, but Niblett doesn't evade the
Morton issue.
"Of course I'd heard of him. I've read a couple of his books and I trusted
his name.
"Of course, there was an ethical question to answer. I had to think long and
hard about what I talked about. How much was already in the public domain?
"The media have made the fight out to be a battle between me and the
Beckhams, but all this talk of me selling intimate sexual revelations is way
off the mark. I haven't read the book but as far as I know it's a straight
biography bya respected writer. Victoria shouldbe flattered that Andrew
wanted to do it in the first place.
"Also, I was getting damaged anyway and I was just getting fed up of it all.
"Revenge is too strong a word - I had no ill-feeling towards the Beckhams. I
always wanted to get my point over and I had to be very careful.
"There are certain things about the way the Beckhams operate that I don't
agree with. We live in a free country and think the public deserve to see
both sides of the coin.
"My personal feelings towards the Beckhams were not important. That wasn't
the kind of book Andrew was writing. He was interested in the new culture
of celebrity and I had an angle on it.
David and Victoria have accused me of being disloyal, but it works both
ways. I'm not saying that makes me right, but it was a consideration and the
only conscience I have to satisfy is my own.
"Obviously there was a fee involved. But I knew it could affect my potential
future employment so there was a trade-off situation there.
"I thought long and hard and, after working for the Beckhams, I'd decided
I'd probably done my last job in showbiz.
"If Geri Halliwelll is looking for a bodyguard I would say 'no'. I wouldn't
want to be a famous person's bodyguard again.
"That's not a judgment on Victoria and David as people. though. They've been
quoted in the press as saying their aim is for me not to benefit one bit
from this book and they've made their opinion of me pretty clear.
"David even came out and said Andrew Morton's book will be boring. It
saddens me but I understand. Funnily enough, it only really sunk in that I'd
left during Euro 2000. I'd love to have phoned David after we beat Germany.
"I genuinely like the guy. He comes from a loving family and his parents Ted
and Sandra are two of the nicest people I've met.
"David gets a lot of stick but always handles it brilliantly. He's actually
incredibly shy but I hate it when people call him thick. He's got a hell of
a brain and he's nobody's fool. He's just quiet.
"And even though it sounds sickly-sweet, everything you read about him being
a devoted father and husband is true. He worships Victoria and Brooklyn.
"It was easier to maintain a purely professional base with Victoria but
because Dave's such a warm-hearted guy, you can't help but get close."
It's hard to draw Niblett too much on his feelings towards Victoria,
although you won't finding him arguing too strongly against the public
perception that Posh wears the trousers in the Beckham household.
But he adds: "That won't stop me buying the new Spice Girls album for my
daughter - even though that means I'll probably be contributing to
Victoria's next Prada handbag."
Niblett has a feeling he will meet the Beckhams again one day. He still
lives in the same area of Cheshire and even shops at their local M&S.
"I'm not going to live my life looking over my shoulder.
"It would be interesting to see how they'd react if I was standing behind
them at a till. If I was a betting man, I'd say David would be embarrassed,
possibly even a bit nervous.
"No doubt about how Victoria would react. She'd give it to me both barrels.
"If she's got something to say to someone, she'll say it and she doesn't
care who hears."
You sense that Niblett is growing a little weary of all things Beckham, and
wants to get on with his own life.
Although he has no concrete plans for the future, he rejoices in the fact
that he can now search for a job safe in the knowledge that he's free to go
wherever he wishes.
"I'm just waiting now for whatever is going to happen. At least now I know
I'm not under threat of going to go to jail. If I get legal aid to fight
them, I'll do it.
"If I don't get legal aid and they insist on pursuing the action against me,
I suppose I'll have to defend myself. Either way, it looks like I'll have my
day in court.
"One way or another, the truth will out. I just hope Victoria Beckham is
prepared for that."
MY SPICE VERDICTS
EMMA BUNTON
A GENUINE person who treats everybody the same. She's devoted to her mum and
on the phone to her all the time. For a millionaire pop star she's very shy
but there's more to her than that baby sweet smile. She's everything I look
for in a woman.
MELANIE B
SHE'S not called Scary for nothing. She's the leader, and a loudmouth in the
nicest sense of the word. She always took the mickey, trying to get me to
smile. She was quite flirty too. Once I took my shirt off by the pool. She
was already topless herself but heckled me from the minute I took it off.
MELANIE C
THE quiet one. She kept herself to herself and I got the impression she was
an outsider in the group. I never got further than the occasional hello, but
she was always pleasant. She seemed to care more about her fitness training
than anything else.
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