The court heard that David Beckham feared his stalker after she wrote “threatening” letters and showed up at his properties.
Sharon Bell, of Watford, was accused of stalking but was not prosecuted because she has a mental illness.
The Westminster Magistrates’ Court has been informed that Bell visited Beckham’s residences in Oxfordshire and West London last year.
A judge determined that she had committed the crime and confined her under the Mental Health Act.
Prosecutor Arizona Asante stated that the 47-year-old former Manchester United, Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, Paris St Germain, and AC Milan player had feared his stalker’s activities.
“I was concerned about what she would do next,” Beckham stated in a court-read statement.
The hearing was informed that the 58-year-old woman sent a letter to Beckham’s Oxfordshire house on 5 July 2012 stating she would come days later after obtaining his address from a detective agency.
It was said that she expressed “feelings” for David Beckham and accused his wife, former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham, of owing her money and robbing her bank account.
The court heard that Bell, who appeared in court through video-link, was “persistent” when she arrived at the residence on 9 July, but she fled after security informed her it was the incorrect address.
A second letter was sent to the Beckhams’ residence in Holland Park, London, before Bell’s arrival on September 9.
The court heard that woman requested if she might “come in for a conversation” with the condition that she was “unarmed.”
In the letter, she also stated that actor Tom Cruise, who is pals with the Beckhams, had “seriously offended me.”
‘Erratic and unpredictable’
In a third letter sent in October, Bell stated, “I have loved you since we were little.”
Beckham stated in his statement that he had never met Bell and that he was concerned about her “erratic and unpredictable” behavior.
“I felt as though the wording in the letter was becoming increasingly passionate and menacing towards me and my family, which alarmed me,” he added.
District Judge Michael Snow ruled that Bell, of Boundary Way in the town of Hertfordshire, had committed the unlawful act and issued a detention order under the Mental Health Act.
He mentioned the “quite terrifying notion” of her investigating Beckham’s address and the “chilling phrases” used in her letters.
