‘I get kissed all the time’: Paul Gascoigne tells sexual assault trial he was protecting female passenger

Ex-midfielder is 'very tactile' person, court told

Former England footballer Paul Gascoigne leaves Teesside Crown Court in Middlesbrough on Monday (PA)

Paul Gascoigne has said he kissed a woman on a train to “protect” her from abuse but claimed it was not sexual, adding that he gave her “just a little peck” and did not use his tongue.

The former England star is on trial accused of attacking the woman last summer on a train from York to Newcastle.

During just under an hour of evidence on Tuesday, the midfielder told jurors there was no sexual motive behind the kiss and that he had acted after hearing the woman mocked for her size. “I get kissed all the time, so if that’s the case I have been sexually harassed for 20 years,” he said.

Gascoigne told Teesside Crown Court in sometimes tearful testimony that he instinctively wanted to “automatically protect” people when they are called fat, because he was described as overweight during his playing career.

On Monday, the first day of the trial, his alleged victim described the ex-footballer as having been drunk and noisy on the train, and having kissed her “forcibly and sloppily on the lips” after she tried to move away from him.

Gascoigne was arrested at the Jesmond Dene Hotel in Newcastle the same night and taken into custody for questioning the following day.

When asked in court why he had not challenged the person who he said had called the woman “fat and ugly”, Mr Gascoigne said: “I do not think it was for me to challenge anybody. I’m not that way inclined.”

Instead, he told jurors, he sat next to the woman and told her to “take no notice of what they say”, adding: ”Listen, you’re not fat and ugly, you are beautiful inside.”

Prosecutor William Mousley QC asked the defendant whether he had embellished or invented elements of his account to create the impression he was innocent, saying: “You are just making it up as you go along, Mr Gascoigne, aren’t you?” Gascoigne insisted that he was not.

The jury has heard there were no CCTV cameras in the carriage.

Ricky Hatton, the former boxer, and football agent Mel Stein gave character references for Gascoigne, who played for Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, Lazio, Rangers, Everton and Middlesbrough during his club career.

Hatton described the 52-year-old as “very tactile”, adding: “When he meets me, he rushes over and gives me a hug and sometimes kisses me on the cheek, that is the way he has always been.”

Mr Stein, his former agent, recalled Gascoigne once greeting a rabbi’s wife with a hug and kiss at a bar mitzvah. The player then apologised when he realised what he had done, and Mr Stein said the rabbi’s wife “made no objection”. Mr Stein said: “It is typical of the way Paul Gascoigne would greet people.”

The jury was also given a file of photos showing him kissing and being kissed by famous footballers, fans and even by Princess Diana.

Additional reporting by Press Association