It was an illness – I knew he needed me

... says wife who left job to save her ‘national treasure’

STEPH Shilton emailed Betfair six years ago begging them to cut off her husband Peter’s account – but says they failed to act.

She was shocked by the grip gambling had on the football legend when she met him in 2012, and embarked on a mission to get him to quit.

She left her job to help him through withdrawal symptoms, and will next week meet Government ministers to discuss ways to help other addicts.

‘It was heartbreaking to think this national treasure, this wonderful football icon, had this problem,’ she said. She decided to become an ‘investigator’ and rifled through the footballer’s bank statements to uncover the scale of his addiction.

Mrs Shilton, 51, who worked as a manager in NHS primary care for 20 years, said: ‘It was a chronic illness and I knew he needed me. I looked at it as a medical condition, just like a drug addiction.’

In 2014 she emailed Betfair, ‘begging and pleading’ with them to close her husband’s account. But she said they replied claiming they were unable to take any action because of data protection rules.

‘I am so angry at the way they treated him, and the fact I made them aware of my concerns but they ignored my plea,’ she said.

She was forced to try other tactics, including separating herself financially.

‘I told Pete for a long time that I didn’t have a credit card when I did,’ she said. ‘I told him I had lent a friend my savings, I said anything so I didn’t feed him the drug which is money.

‘A lot of men find it hard to seek help or open up about their financial disasters. I kept reiterating that he could tell me anything. I also tried to replace the mentality of winning with that of losing, calling the Racing Post the Loser’s Post.’

In 2015, three years after they got together, the former goalkeeper placed his last bet.

Mrs Shilton said: ‘I remember

the day where he did give up. He said “I’m losing, and I’m worried I’m going to lose you”. I said, “You’re never going to lose me, but we we’ve got to move on”.’

Shilton then picked up the phone to Betfair to cancel his account. Stopping gambling caused three months of withdrawal symptoms including sleepless nights, mood swings and irritability.

Mrs Shilton said: ‘I gave up work to commit to helping him. I wanted him so much to overcome it that giving up my career was unquestionable. Each day we went on long walks.

‘It took me about a year to stop worrying, I was still checking his laptop and throwing away the racing pages in the newspaper.’

She now hopes to return to work in the NHS, and is determined to help other families struggling with gambling.

She will meet health minister Nadine Dorries next week to discuss becoming involved in the 14 NHS gambling clinics around the country.

She said: ‘It is so right that the NHS look after the addicts, but the public should not foot the bill. Gambling firms must take their responsibility.

‘GPs also need to get on board and be educated far better on gambling addiction.’

Mrs Shilton added: ‘As long as you love each other, you will pull through. We now have a second life. We have disposable income and can go on nice weekends or nice meals.’

Shilton split from first wife, Sue, in 2011. They married in 1970 and have two sons, Michael and Sam.

A Betfair spokesman said: ‘We cannot publicly comment on individual customer accounts. Over the past few years we have significantly strengthened our responsible gambling practices, including limit-setting and other tools, and have invested in technology to help us proactively identify and engage with customers who may be at risk.’

The Shiltons are supporting the charity Gambling with Lives which was set up by bereaved parents who have lost children to gambling addiction.

‘Men find it hard to seek help’