Victoria Beckham has shut down plans for a Spice Girls reunion tour after stopping the girls from performing their old songs

A source said: "The girls are devastated. It is an extremely sad way for things to end ... Victoria was a huge part of their lives and now she is using lawyers to block their comeback.

"Victoria is proud of her Spice Girls history but this suggests she wants to cut all links with the group which transformed her life. She is resorting to aggressive legal letters and it is an extremely sad way for things to end after all they have been through together."

And Victoria - who has sons Brooklyn, 17, Romeo, 14, and Cruz, 11, and daughter Harper, five, with her husband David Beckham - was said to be "concerned" that the group's legacy could be "damaged" by any new music.

A source added to The Sun newspaper: "It became a concern that if the remaining members started mixing classic hits with new songs that were not up to much it would damage their legacy.

"Victoria takes herself very seriously now and didn’t want to have an association with this project which she felt she would if they sang the classic songs and marketed themselves as the Spice Girls.

"She got lawyers involved as she has a writing credit on the hits and co-owns the companies which control the band’s legacy and finances."

It comes after it was claimed the group - which also includes Mel C - had changed their plans because Geri, who is pregnant with her second child, wants to focus on her family.

An insider shared: "Geri's priorities have changed. Her baby is due later this year and rather than force a reunion, she's needs to concentrate on more personal matters.

"Getting all the girls in the studio at the same time proved a tough task. What they needed was one main boss-style figure to pull the strings otherwise they would be constantly in limbo."