Photo: WENN.com

Welsh opera star Katherine Jenkins has been forced to turn to the police for help after receiving death threats over rumours of an affair with David Beckham.

Online rumours last week suggested the singer had been engaged in a fling with the international football star, and Jenkins was forced to deny the rumours on her Twitter profile on Friday 24 August, 2012. The singer was issued threats on Twitter as users threatened to 'cut' the star.

"Due to the serious nature of the threats, the tweets have been reported to the police," said a spokesperson for the star, after Jenkins spoke of the 'horrible' rumours.

"I’ve read some horrible rumours on here and want you to know I absolutely deny I’ve had an affair with David Beckham," Katherine told her Twitter followers on Friday.

"The rumours are hurtful, untrue and, my lawyers tell me, actionable."

A source told The Sun newspaper: "When she saw the messages she straight away wanted to protect herself by getting police involved."

The singer seemed to be brushing off the incident over the weekend as she tweeted photos of herself in a recording studio with the simple message, "Back to work #happysaturday."