Security companies and police officers were the only visitors allowed yesterday to the Hertfordshire mansion of Britain's most high-profile celebrity couple. Two days of high drama ended with nine people being questioned by police last night after the alleged plot to kidnap Victoria Beckham and her two young sons was uncovered.
Victoria and David Beckham, who were shocked by the revelations, were reviewing security arrangements at their homes in Hertfordshire and Cheshire. "The first role of a father and husband is to keep his family safe," said Beckham. His team, Manchester United, added that it was "very concerned" and said its security arrangements were always "under constant review".
The alleged plot was discovered by an undercover team from the News of the World. The newspaper told police what it knew earlier this week and armed officers arrested three men over allegations of conspiracy to kidnap and theft on Saturday afternoon. Four men and two women were arrested in connection with the gang's activities in further raids later on Saturday and yesterday.
While the Beckhams were clearly relieved, there was concern in some quarters that the alleged gang members, some of whom were named and pictured in the News of the World, might not be able to receive a fair trial.
According to the paper, the gang planned to ambush Mrs Beckham as she left her Hertfordshire mansion, sedate her - and, if they were with her, her children too - and imprison them in a house in south London until a £5m ransom was paid.
The News of the World claims the gang's "nine-man team" had carried out surveillance and even visited the Beckhams' house and planned escape routes. They quoted one gang member as saying: "We take her to a safe house in Brixton and wait until the money is transferred to our overseas account." Another allegedly said: "If the kids are with her, it's even better. We ask David Beckham for £5m. It's 100% he pays. But if something happens and he doesn't pay, Victoria is going to die."
According to the paper, the investigation began six weeks ago after hearing that a gang of eastern Europeans was offering for sale antiques, including a £250,000 Arabian crown, which had been stolen from Sotheby's.
Mazher Mahmood, the paper's investigations editor whose previous targets include the Countess of Wessex, would play the part of a rich crook prepared to buy the stolen goods, while another reporter would infiltrate the gang by offering his services as a getaway driver. Within days, the reporter posing as the driver had been accepted because a criminal contact of the News of the World acted as a "referee" for him. Three weeks ago the gang leader agreed to meet Mahmood in a hotel near Tower Bridge. According to Mahmood, he was shown the crown, encrusted in diamonds, rubies and pearls, in a hotel toilet. The gang leader told him they had £4m worth of valuables from Sotheby's, including a 17th century Dutch painting and rare books. He could have the lot for £45,000.
But the stakes were raised considerably higher when the gang allegedly began talking about a plot to kidnap Victoria Beckham. The newspaper collected "hours" of footage of the men discussing the plot. Some of it was taken by the reporter posing as a getaway driver, who wore a tiny camera and microphone. More footage came from Conrad Brown, a News of the World photographer who worked with Mahmood on the Sophie Wessex story.
The police clearly believed the gang was serious. When Mahmood, still posing as a crook, met gang members in the car park of the Ibis hotel in London's Docklands on Saturday lunchtime, the Metropolitan police's firearms team and specialist kidnap unit were waiting.
The dramatic scene in which armed police ordered the suspects - and Mahmood - to lie spreadeagled on the concrete was captured by another News of the World photographer from a room in the hotel.
While Victoria Beckham was told about the arrests shortly before Manchester United's game with Southampton, in which her husband Beckham was playing, a slick PR operation was under way with the News of the World alerting the BBC, ITN and Sky News about the paper's scoop and making available video footage.
The paper trumpeted its role on the front page: "News of the World saves Victoria and her sons from thugs." Detective Inspector Ian Horrocks, of the kidnap unit, was quoted as saying: "You've done a fantastic job taking on dangerous criminals."
However, some lawyers expressed concern that the News of the World - and others who followed up the story - could be jeopardising the chances of the men receiving a fair trial. Mark Stephens, of the Stephens Finer Innocent law firm in London, said: "We have to make a decision as a society whether we want courts or the media to try cases."
Mahmood has said in the past that his "primary job" was to write an article for the News of the World, and then supply evidence to the police.
Cynics suggested the timing of the raid - just a few hours before the News of the World's deadline - was too good to be true. The paper denied it had timed its revelations to the police with its deadline in mind.
The defence in any future case will look for evidence that the reporters in any way encouraged the gang to develop their plans. In 1999 a lenient sentence was passed on the Earl of Hardwicke after a judge accepted that had he not been entrapped into taking cocaine by a team again led by Mahmood, he would not have committed the offence.