Melanie BrownMelanie Brown has requested 24-hour police protection after a group of Eddie Murphy’s fans started camping outside her Los Angeles home.

According to the Sun, the pregnant former Spice Girl faced constant abuse from the group and had to flee from the home she shares with her daughter Phoenix Chi.

A source close to Mel told the newspaper: “She is extremely lonely in LA and her life is being made intolerable by Eddie’s fans camped outside. They shout insults and give her abuse all the time. The police have decided to place an officer outside to keep an eye on things.”

“She was living with Eddie before all this happened and spent all her time with him - now she’s all alone.”

“She can’t understand why he hasn’t even bothered to phone and explain what is going on. Mel is incredibly hurt by it. There’s no question that Eddie is the baby’s father.”

Eddie has demanded that the child undergoes DNA testing when it is born to assert whether or not he is the father. Mel is rumoured to be planning a legal fight for financial support if the tests show that Eddie is the dad but the source told the Sun she’s not thinking about that at the moment: “So far Mel hasn’t been thinking about money - and reports that she is going to tell all on US TV are just nonsense.”

“Mel just wants to hear from Eddie before she does anything so she can decide what to do about her future and that of their baby.”