David Beckham 'hires armed guard to protect family'

David Beckham and his family are under protection from an armed guard, it has been claimed.

The footballer was shadowed by a minder, thought to be an off-duty policeman, as he played with his three sons on Malibu Beach in LA recently, the Daily Star Sunday reports. The guard wore a holstered pistol, without its magazine of bullets.

"I can't comment on any individual case, but the practice of celebrities hiring off-duty officers for private security purposes is common practice here," a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Police Department said.

Photographer Mike Kamara was approached by the armed guard while taking photographs of the family on the beach.

He said: "I didn't notice him at first. He kept in the background very discreetly. Within the space of a few frames he spotted me too. I saw him reach into another pocket and pull something out.

"It could have been his pistol magazine. It looked the right size and shape but I couldn't tell. As he walked towards me, I saw his hand hovering over his still-holstered pistol, the way cops do when they are on high alert approaching a potentially dangerous situation.

"He asked who I was and what I was doing. When I told him, he said, 'Mr Beckham would like to spend the rest of the day with just his boys'."

A spokesman for David and Victoria said that armed bodyguards were common in America.