Beckham dashes back from LA after father suffers heart attack

The England footballer caught an overnight flight from the US after hearing his father, Ted, had been taken ill.

The 59-year-old reportedly "died" on the way to hospital last night and had to be resuscitated by paramedics.

Doctors at the Whipps Cross Hospital in Leytonstone, east London, eventually managed to stabilise him.

He was later moved to the London Chest hospital in Bethnal Green and was in a stable condition there today.

Beckham looked sombre when he arrived at Heathrow at around midday, where a car was waiting to take him to the hospital.

Wearing a brown leather shirt, white T-shirt, jeans and sunglasses and with a bag over his shoulder, he looked tanned but downcast as he left the terminal building.

The 4x4 VW car carrying the star arrived at the specialist cardiac unit at the hospital about an hour-and-a-half later.

The footballer sat impassively in the front passenger seat as it pulled up to the back entrance.

He refused to answer questions from waiting reporters about his father's condition before he was ushered inside.

His spokesman said: "His priority is to see his dad and that is his first concern."

Beckham travelled to London alone but is due to be joined by his wife, Victoria, tomorrow.

She was working in Japan when she heard the news about her father-in-law and is now flying home to Britain.

The couple's spokesman initially said: "Victoria is in Japan working but obviously she has been informed of it and she is concerned."

But he later confirmed the Spice Girl had cut short her trip and is due to arrive in London "sometime tomorrow".

The couple's mercy dash came after Beckham was taken to hospital from his home in Chingford, east London, last night after complaining of chest pains.

A London Ambulance Service spokeswoman said they were called at just after 9pm to an address on Hampton Road and sent an ambulance and a fast response car.

She said: "One patient was taken to hospital."

Whipps Cross Hospital would not confirm any details last night but when asked if Mr Beckham was there, a spokesman said: "We have got a patient in hospital who is very unwell."

The gas fitter, who once harboured dreams of being a footballer himself, was later transferred to the London Chest Hospital, and it is believed he had surgery there overnight.

A spokesman for Barts and The London NHS Trust said today: "I can confirm that he is at the London Chest Hospital and is in a stable condition."

The hospital houses the UK's biggest heart centre and Mr Beckham will now be receiving treatment from Britain's top heart specialists.

Along with St Bartholomew's Hospital and the Royal London, it is managed by the Barts and The London NHS Trust and houses the UK's biggest heart attack centre.

Combined with St Bartholomew's, the hospital treats about 9,000 patients a year and has one of the lowest mortality rates in the country for cardiac surgery.

In 2004-05, the mortality rate for all cardiac surgery conducted at the two hospitals was 2.33%, compared with a national average of 3.3%, according to its website.

Barts and The London NHS Trust is also currently England's top rated teaching hospital trust, according to the independent health watchdog, the Healthcare Commission.

The hospital would not say whether Mr Beckham was being treated on a private ward, or if he was in intensive care or a high-dependency unit.

Father and son both share the name David, but Mr Beckham senior is known as Ted, which is short for his middle name, Edward.

An avid football and Manchester United fan, it was a dream come true for him when his only son went on to play for his favourite team.

He and his then-wife Sandra, who he has since divorced, would travel to every game at Old Trafford to watch him play.

Father and son reportedly fell out two years ago after Mr Beckham published a book called David Beckham: My Son, without getting David's permission to write it.

However, the pair are believed to have reconciled earlier this year.

His father's heart attack is the latest blow for Beckham, whose new career at LA Galaxy and England comeback has been hampered by injury.