A £300,000 stitch-up?

Speculation was growing last night that Rebecca Loos leaked details of her alleged affair with David Beckham as part of an elaborate 'kiss and tell' operation.

Miss Loos, has vehemently denied selling her story to the News of the World for an estimated £300,000.

In a phone call to her brother John Charles in Spain on Sunday morning, she said: 'It certainly wasn't me.'

Beckham's friends are privately convinced, however, that Miss Loos was directly involved.

Although the only source quoted was a 'close family friend', they believe the level of detail in the story indicates it must have come from the former personal assistant herself. They point to incriminating text messages, seemingly sent months after their 'affair' was said to have cooled and she had ceased to be employed by the SFX company.

Observers said the newspaper would have demanded proof of any affair and could have urged Miss Loos to send text messages to Beckham to gauge his response - and thereby substantiate claims of an illicit liaison.

Her silence, meanwhile, is seen as further evidence that she is contracted to the newspaper and might yet have even more damaging revelations up her sleeve.

Public relations guru Max Clifford said the paper would not have run the story without being certain it could avoid legal action.'Everyone will now want to find Rebecca Loos and I'm sure there's a lot more to come. If Beckham is too critical of her then it might push her into doing something.

'I was interested in Beckham's statement which says the whole thing is "ludicrous" but doesn't mention that it's untrue.'

Mr Clifford added: 'A lot of people will say it was inevitable. They will say there he was, on his own in Spain, while she was pursuing her own career, so for him it's not really a problem at all.

'As far as Victoria goes, she's only famous now because she's the wife of David Beckham.' Mr Clifford said the affair claims 'might even help her and there might be sympathy for her.'