Ex-wife haunted by spirit of George Best

UNITED KINGDOM.  A year after the death of one of the worlds greatest
footballers, George Best, it has been claimed that his ex-wife, Alex
Pursey, has had his ghost for company throughout the past 12 months. He
would sit and watch television with her and move objects around the home
they shared.
She married Best 1995 to 2004 and helped him through the worst of his
alcoholism and his liver transplant, before divorcing him in 2004 when
he continued to drink. She also claimed he had been violent towards her.

Best, 59, died after multiple organ failure on 25 November 2005,
refusing to let his estranged wife, Alex, visit him during his last
weeks of illness. His family finally relented when it became apparent
that he only had hours to live.
Now, according to Daily Telegraph columnist Celia Walden, Alex, 34, has
told friends that she has been haunted by the ghost of her late husband
all year.
It started in April, when Alex kept saying that she felt things were
being moved around by George in their old house in Surrey," a friend
told her.

She then claimed that he would appear in his old chair by the fire and
watch TV with her, sometimes even switching the lights on and off and
playing tricks on her.
Alex said she never felt threatened that he was a benevolent presence
which she found oddly reassuring. It even made her reluctant to sell the
house, but she was finally forced to do so.

The beautiful former model who has now moved to a smaller house in
Wimbledon, south-west London, where she owns a wine bar has said that
one year on the apparitions have stopped.
George hasnt been back since she left the barn, and she sort of misses
his presence now, a friend told the journalist.

George Best's spirit made the headlines in August this year when a
Sunday newspaper reported that medium Derek Acorah, himself a former
professional football player, would attempt to communicate with him at
an up-coming demonstration (in September) at Belfast's Waterfront Hall.
Bests funeral at Stormont on 3 December 2005 was the closest thing to a
state funeral that Northern Ireland has seen. It received live
television coverage from all the major broadcasters and an estimated
100,00 mourners lined the route. He was then buried beside his mother in
a private ceremony at Roselawn Ceremony.

But Acorah, whose theatrical appearances on Most Haunted and various other TV
paranormal programmes have made him a celebrity, denied that he would be
attempting to make contact with Best's spirit during his Belfast show.
Belfast City Council issued a statement at the end of August saying:
Derek Acorah said he was sistressed to hear of an article in relation to
his contacting of George Best during a show next month at Belfasts
Waterfront Hall. Mr Acorah did not originate any comments on this issue
and was responding to questions put to him by a journalist.

Furthemore, the journalist misquoted what he said.
Mr Acorah will not be including any reference whatsoever in any of his
shows to George Best and will not make any further comment on this issue
as he is only too aware of, and regrets, the distress that the reporting
of this story has already caused the Best family.