The Beckhams in Ireland!!!

Pain From A Name: Beckhams' Torment

Tadhg Enright
In Belfast Updated:09:18, Wednesday February 13, 2008

A couple who've changed their name to David and Victoria Beckham claim their lives have been made a misery as a result.

David and Victoria BeckhamThe pair say they've become prisoners in their own home - but its not the paparazzi that are keeping them holed up in their very own Beckingham Palace.

Their tormentors are teenage thugs, who have been attacking the property in west Belfast, Northern Ireland.

David said of the yob abuse: "It's been going on for the past couple of years. They were coming around and throwing eggs and stones at windows."

But last month, the anti-social behaviour became more sinister when thugs smashed their sitting-room window in the early hours of the morning.

"A big ball of ice came through the window," said David. "They must have made it. It was like a football".

Victoria had been making a cup of tea in the kitchen at the time and David says the outcome could have been worse if she'd been in the front room at the time.

He added: "She could have been hurt. It could have hit her in the head and knocked her out."

The Beckhams reported the incident to the police and the housing executive.

The couple's front windows have now been boarded up and David has installed CCTV cameras to keep their tormentors at bay.

The pair have become well known across Northern Ireland since they changed their names by deed-poll in 2003.

But they don't believe they're being targeted because of their celebrity status or their allegiance to Manchester United.

Sadly for them, it has upset plans they had to visit the Beckhams' old stomping ground.

"We were supposed to go to Old Trafford, but we can't get away because the boarding is still up and we're still waiting for new glass," said David.

David and Victoria are so afraid they'll be attacked again, they say that once their windows are fixed, the wooden boarding will be going back up at their home, which bears a "Beckingham Palace" name-plate.

"I hate not being able to see outside but I don't think we have any other choice," said Victoria. "I would just be waiting for the windows to be smashed again."