A US JUDGE HAS DISMISSED soccer star David Beckham’s libel suit against an American magazine which claimed he had an affair with a former prostitute, the AP reports.

He sought $25m in damages after In Touch magazine published a story alleging he had slept with a 25-year-old woman in New York in 2007.

Beckham, 35, argued he had been in England visiting his sick father at the time of the alleged affair, the Guardian reports, and his lawyers said a simple investigation by In Touch would have shown this.

Lawyers for the magazine’s publishers, Bauer Publishing, argued it had done all it could to corroborate the woman’s story, although that was the only evidence it had produced of the affair, according to the Telegraph.

Under US libel laws, Beckham had to prove the story was published with malice, meaning the magazine knew the information was false or didn’t care if it was false. However, the judge ruled that Beckham had failed to show any evidence of this.

Beckham is expected to appeal the decision.