David's Sister Sobs as Alcoholic Lover is Jailed

David Beckham's sister sobbed yesterday as her lover was jailed for bombarding his ex-girlfriend with 'vile' abuse.

Lynne Beckham, 38, gasped and held her hand over her mouth as 'chronic alcoholic' Kevin Briggs, who has 18 previous convictions, was taken down to the cells. He had breached a restraining order by repeatedly making aggressive calls to charity worker Lisa Gilbey, the mother of his teenage son, days after getting out of jail for a similar offence.

Briggs, 37, had been repeatedly confrontational during their 13-year relationship, Snaresbrook Crown Court in East London heard. The couple broke up three years ago after Briggs tried to throttle Miss Gilbey because she refused to make him a sandwich, for which he was convicted of assault.

Last summer he was jailed for six months for breaching a restraining order over Miss Gilbey. Four days after his release, on January 22 this year, Briggs made the first of his calls to his ex-partner which left her 'anxious and distressed,' prosecutor Martin Whitehouse said.

However, the court was told, since his latest arrest Briggs has started to turn his life around, in large part because of the 'positive' influence of Miss Beckham.

Tara McCarthy, for Briggs, said the footballer's sister had helped him give up drink and had supported him in his battle with depression, Briggs has moved into Miss Beckham's £250,000 four-bed-room home in Romford, Essex, which the former England captain bought for her 12 years ago.

Miss McCarthy said: 'He has moved forward with a new relationship. They want to continue forward despite this.'

But sentencing Briggs to five months in jail, Judge Tudor Owen told him: 'I am far from satisfied that you genuinely want to change your ways. You made contact with your former partner by telephone and called her vile names in an aggressive manner which not surprisingly caused her distress. You called four days after serving a sentence for breaking the very same order.'

Briggs is an unemployed landscape gardener and lives on benefits with Miss Beckham, who has three children from her relationship with estranged husband Colin Every.

Beckham, 35, who has an estimated fortune of £125million, has always helped provide for his sister.

However, Miss Beckham is reported to be to be in such dire financial straits that she claiming £164 a week in handouts. Relations between Beckham and his jobless sister have been strained because of the footballer's disapproval of her estranged husband, Colin Every.

The couple married in 1999 and al though Beckham attended the ceremony, his wife Victoria refused to go. Miss Beckham and Every, 42, are now in the midst of a bitter divorce.

Source : Daily Mail