David and Victoria Beckham succeeded in a legal bid to gag their former nanny on Friday after she sold a story to a tabloid newspaper about the state of their marriage.

Lawyers acting for Abbie Gibson, 27, told the High Court in London that she would not make any further allegations about the couple's private life and would put on "legal ice" the 125,000 pounds ($238,000) she received from the News of the World for her story.

The couple had previously failed in a bid to stop the story being published.

The News of the World said they printed the story because they wanted to "expose the truth behind Brand Beckham".

"The Beckhams have repeatedly lied publicly," the newspaper said in a statement.

Gibson told her full story in last week's newspaper, the statement said, and was therefore happy to agree not to say anything further.

"This issue could and should have been resolved outside the courts," the newspaper said.

"Instead, yet again, the Beckhams' energetic PR and legal team have hunted headlines on behalf of their clients."

Under the agreement, Gibson will not disclose any further information about the couple pending either a trial or a further court order.

However the England soccer captain and his wife failed in their bid to prevent Gibson or anyone else repeating the allegations as the judge ruled it would be "futile to try to prevent further circulation".

The Beckhams released a statement after the hearing saying it was an unfortunate step to take but hopefully it would "protect the privacy of our family".

The media had reported Gibson received 300,000 pounds for the story but it was made clear in court that this was not the case.

Neither the Beckhams nor Gibson were present in court on Friday.

The Beckhams' six-year marriage came under close scrutiny last year following tabloid allegations that Beckham had had an affair with his personal assistant Rebecca Loos -- a claim he has ridiculed.

The Real Madrid midfielder is one of the most widely recognised sportsmen in the world with a string of endorsements to his name and regularly features on the front and back pages of the British press.

His wife Victoria found fame as one of the Spice Girls pop group. She gave birth to their third son, Cruz, in February.

Source: Agencies/China Daily