Foul play on footballers

Everton striker Duncan Ferguson took on burglars twice. In 2001, two men broke in but were confronted by Ferguson. The 6ft 4in Scot was apparently head-butted and hit by a bottle, but was able to restrain one of the burglars as the other escaped. Ferguson required no hospital treatment. The restrained burglar did.

In 2003, drug addict Carl Bishop broke into Ferguson’s home and was caught. Bishop tried to hit the Scot with a bottle, but was restrained. The burglar spent time in hospital after the incident, but his claims of assault by Ferguson were dismissed by police.

Chelsea star Frank Lampard was the victim of a burglary in May 2005. His €5.8m home was broken into, and his Aston Martin sports car and Mercedes jeep, a TV, two laptops, a wallet and two pairs of boots were taken. One man, James Gould, was later found not guilty of the raid on the house, but confessed to stealing the TV.

Real Madrid midfielder David Beckham has had bad luck with cars. In the past year, he has had two BMWs stolen — the most recent in April when thieves used hi-tech equipment to take his BMW X5 from a car park.