David Beckham's former bodyguard Craig Ainsworth found dead in Spain following hunt for war veteran
7 April 2025, 08:26 | Updated: 7 April 2025, 09:20
David Beckham and Johnny Depp's former bodyguard has been found dead after disappearing in Spain, triggering a widespread search operation.
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Craig Ainsworth's mother revealed the tragic news that a body had been found over the weekend, posting a statement to social media following an urgent appeal for information as to the veteran's whereabouts.
The ex-Royal Marine became a bodyguard after leaving the armed forces, posting a "haunting" final message to Facebook shortly before his death.
Mr Ainsworth, who had been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, had posted a message to Facebook "to say goodbye" prior to his disappearance.
The post saw the veteran explain he had lost "eleven friends ... to suicide in just sixteen months".
Police in the region had previously confirmed they were focusing their search for him in Alicante and Barcelona following his disappearance.
In a social media update on Saturday, Sally confirmed the news of her son's death, saying: "Craig has been found."
"With the greatest sadness the world has lost Craig. He served in Afghanistan and he had PTSD."
"RIP Craig.”
The heartbreaking post was accompanied by a picture of the former soldier dressed in military uniform.
It's thought Mr Ainsworth was aged 40 when he died.
The former soldier had turned to coaching others in recent years after stepping back from both military and security roles.
It follows a tragic final post from the soldier, who took to Facebook in the hours leading up to his death.
Craig, based in Enfield, north London, took to social media on Saturday to document his "tremendous pain", after "lockdown destroyed everything I had built".
"I lost some genuinely amazing humans I was proud to call friends and colleagues," he wrote.
"Goodbye Beautiful People. To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist; that is all.
“For most of you, this will come as a shock, but I’ve been in the most tremendous pain for the past four years since lockdown destroyed everything I had built, and I lost some genuinely amazing humans I was proud to call friends and colleagues.”
He had worked for the Beckham family from 2013 to 2015 when they lived in Holland Park, London.
