A FORMER bodyguard to David and Victoria Beckham was killed by a roadside bomb while working as a security specialist in Iraq.

Ex-Royal Marine Merrick McDonald was employed by private security firm Aegis Defence Services at the time of his death in October 2006.

North Staffordshire Coroner's Court today ruled that the 42-year-old, who grew up in the Potteries, was unlawfully killed by an explosively formed penetrator (EFP) device which exploded close to convoy he was travelling between Hindiyah and Karbala, south of Baghdad.

Mr Merrick, who also spent four years with Staffordshire Police's Tactical Support Unit and was a trained firearms officer, was travelling as a passenger in an armoured Toyota Landcruiser at the time of the blast as part of a team escorting an official.

Mr McDonald, who was killed instantly and pronounced dead at the scene along with driver Christopher Butcher, spent two years working as David and Victoria Becham's chief minder from 2003.