Ex-footballer tells court he changed his mobile five times a month and says: ‘I’d like to trade in my phone for a coffin because these guys have ruined my life’

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Paul Gascoigne has told a court that phone hacking by Mirror Group Newspapers drove him to severe paranoia and alcoholism, revealing that he even contemplated suicide to escape the “horrendous” media intrusion.

The former England footballer said he changed his mobile phone five times a month and spent £80,000 on counter-surveillance equipment because he felt hounded by the press while battling alcohol addiction.

Gascoigne, 47, is one of eight phone-hacking victims suing Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), the publisher of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and the People, for compensation.

Giving evidence in a packed courtroom, Gascoigne said he was too scared to speak to his parents and children because he felt his calls were being monitored.

“It was just horrendous. And people can’t understand why I became an alcoholic,” he said.

Gascoigne said his paranoia became so grave that he discussed phone hacking with his therapist, who did not believe him.

“At the time I was going through a bad time because I knew I was getting hacked. I knew 110%. No one believed it,” he said. “I was speaking to him [the therapist] and it clicked again. He told me I’m paranoid, I’m going through a mental disorder.

“I said: ‘There’s fuck-all wrong with me.’ I know I’m getting hacked. I know and he put the phone down on us. I never told a lie. I’ve got nothing to lie about. Nothing. Disgusting crap.”



Gascoigne grew visibly angry when Matthew Nicklin QC, counsel for MGN declined to cross-examine him saying it would “not be appropriate”.



Shaking his head, the former footballer said: “I’ve waited 15 years to be sat here. I’m disgusted really. Fifteen years.”

The judge, Mr Justice Mann, told Gascoigne it meant that his evidence was not going to be challenged by MGN.

“There’s nothing to challenge,” replied Gascoigne. Then, his voice hoarse and shaking with emotion, he added: “Can I say one final thing? I’d like to trade my mobile in for a coffin because those guys have ruined my life. Left me in a state.”

Gascoigne left the witness box and hurried out of the courtroom, followed by a close friend and his legal team. One of his allies shouted “Bastards!” outside the courtroom.



MGN has admitted that 18 articles in the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and the People were published as a result of hacking Gascoigne’s phone.



The high court has heard that Gascoigne was targeted for a decade, from 2000 to 2010, at the height of his battle with alcohol addiction.

In a 28-page witness statement, Gascoigne revealed the effect of phone hacking on his life while he was undergoing treatment for mental health issues including severe paranoia, obsessive compulsive disorder, depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts.



The former Tottenham Hotspur player changed his mobile phone up to 60 times between 2004 and 2006, he said, because he thought he was being bugged. He once flew to Spain solely to purchase a phone he thought might not be tapped.



In October 2000, Gascoigne checked into the Priory health clinic to escape the media gaze – but found himself unable to talk openly in group sessions because he feared fellow patients were speaking to the press.



“I felt that I could not cope with the media attention anymore and I seriously thought about jumping in front of a train,” he said. “I felt as though I was being pursued daily by journalists and photographers and that I couldn’t cope any more.”

In 2008, photographers entered the grounds of the Priory to take pictures of Gascoigne after he had been sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

For two years Gascoigne refused to speak to some members of his family because he thought they were betraying him by selling stories to the Mirror. He recently apologised to his stepdaughter, Bianca, for wrongly suspecting her of selling stories about him to the newspapers.

“It is very sad to me that a lot of damage has already been done to my family that cannot easily be fixed,” he said. “My apologising to them now cannot turn back the clock for things I have said to them and the hurt that this has caused.”

Also giving evidence on Wednesday was former EastEnders actor Lucy Taggart, who broke down in tears as she spoke about being “slaughtered” by the Daily Mirror’s showbiz column, 3am.

MGN has admitted that 17 articles published about Taggart by the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and the People, from August 2000 to June 20006, were the product of phone hacking.

“With each one I always felt like I had to pick myself up and dust myself off and carry on,” she said.

“But on the following day or following week there would be another article about something else and it felt like I was being punched and battered and bruised. It felt I was in a boxing ring without any gloves.”











































