Paul Gascoigne has been cleared of sexual assault over a claim he planted a "drunken and sloppy kiss" on a fellow train passenger.

The 52-year-old was charged over an incident on a CrossCountry train from York to Newcastle last year, when he was said to have kissed a "shocked" woman who was in his carriage.

Gascoigne told jurors at Teesside Crown Court someone on the train had called the claimant "fat and ugly" and that he wanted to comfort her.

Image: Gascoigne pleaded not guilty to sexual assault

He said his instinct was to "automatically protect" anyone who is teased about their weight, telling the court how he was called a "fat b******" when he was a player and that his children and nephews have also been called fat.

He said the insult towards the woman came after someone suggested she have "a selfie with Gazza", at which point he overheard someone say: "You don't want a photo with her, she's fat and ugly."


He said: "Automatically I went and sat next to her and said, 'Look, you're not fat and ugly, you're beautiful inside.'"

His voice broke as he described the "peck on the lips" to jurors.

Gascoigne, who denied the charge of sexual assault by touching, said he did not regard the kiss as sexual harassment and told the prosecution the woman, who cannot be named, "didn't seem that bothered".

She told the court that Gascoigne had been sat behind her and was being noisy and had food around his mouth, and that later in the journey he tried to sit on her lap.

Image: Gascoigne played for Newcastle, Tottenham and a host of other clubs during his career

She also told jurors of the moment Gascoigne grabbed her face and kissed her on the lips.

The woman fought back tears as she told the court: "I tried to keep my mouth firmly shut, I just completely froze.

"It was just sloppy and it wasn't like a peck on the cheek like you might give someone, it was very full on the lips."

She said the kiss came "completely out of the blue" and had left her "shocked".

Other passengers giving evidence in court said they had seen Gascoigne kiss the woman "forcibly" and she had appeared "upset" and "distressed".

In his police interview after his arrest, which was played in court, Gascoigne told officers he did not consider the kiss a case of sexual harassment.

He added: "I get kissed all the time, so if that's the case I have been sexually harassed for 20 years."

When asked by the prosecution why he did not apologise to the woman in his police interview, the ex-Tottenham midfielder said she had told another passenger "she was fine".

Image: Gascoigne celebrates a win for Tottenham

The police interview came after he was arrested at the Jesmond Dene Hotel in Newcastle some hours after the incident on 20 August 2018.

British Transport Police officer Robert Moody told the court that Gascoigne was sat in the foyer in an "intoxicated, drunken state" and had a glass of beer in his hand.

Gascoigne said to officers he had only had "three or four cans" prior to the incident because spirits made him "spew up" following a recent operation.

He said in his interview "before the operation I could drink gin no problem", and told a custody sergeant: "All I was doing was trying to help a fat lass."

When asked by the prosecution why he had not challenged the person who supposedly insulted his alleged victim, the former Newcastle and Middlesbrough star said: "I do not think it was for me to challenge anybody.

"I'm not that way inclined."

Image: Paul Gascoigne fires home against Scotland at Euro 96

Gascoigne agreed he was not "so drunk he didn't know what he was doing" at the time, and said any impression he was slurring his words was because he did not have his false teeth in.

He took the teeth out during his evidence and demonstrated how different his voice sounded without them in.

The jury was also given a series of photos described as showing Gascoigne kissing or being kissed by celebrities including the likes of Wayne Rooney, Russell Brand and Princess Diana.

The prosecution said none of the supplied images showed him kissing women in the way he kissed the complainant, to which Gascoigne interjected: "Not in these ones, no."

When told he had kissed the woman, who cannot be identified, "in circumstances that any reasonable person would describe as sexual", Gascoigne said: "There was no sexual intent."

Gascoigne was also cleared of a second charge of assault by beating.