Haunted by George

EX WIFE ALEX BEST: Spirit's a little mischievous, just like he used to be

- CLAIRE O'BOYLE

George Best famously ghosted past defenders as if they weren't there. Now his ex-wife Alex has revealed she believes he could still be ghosting around - in her home.

Since the football star's death 16 years ago, model Alex has experienced strange phenomena. Items vanish only to reappear in the middle of a room months later, heavy furniture moves, lights flicker and the TV has a life of its own.

She says: "I'm convinced spirits have come to visit my 200-year-old house. George could have been one of them.”

Her first ever spooky experience came on the day Manchester United icon George was buried: December 3, 2005, after his death aged just 59.

Alex recalls: “I was staying at a hotel in Belfast. I remember it was an early start that day and obviously it was very emotional.

“Just as I was leaving through the hotel door, the shower turned on full blast. On its own .

Determined to get to the bottom of ghostly goings-on at the Surrey cottage where she lives, Alex enlisted the help of paranormal professionals from TV documentary series Celebrity Help! My House Is Haunted, broadcast on discovery+.

In one astonishing moment caught on camera, a book shoots out from the back of a shelf by around six inches.

When investigator Barri Ghai looks, he finds it's a biography of George Best.

"I don't think that's a coincidence," says Alex, who turns 50 later this month.

"I've got so many books on that bookshelf. I've got books on films, antiques, all different autobiographies and yet the book that shot out was George's. That moment made me really think he could have been one of the spirits.

“Before that point i'd thought the spirit had just been a child because it was mischievous and playful, but George was mischievous as well.”