WOMAN TELLS JURY OF ‘SLOPPY ORDEAL’
DRUNK Paul Gascoigne kissed a woman on a train to “reassure her”, it was claimed yesterday. He later told police he knew they were looking for him because he had “kissed a fat lass”, a court heard.
The married woman said she had never felt so upset after the former footballer took her face in his hands and gave her a forceful five-second kiss. One passenger on the York to Newcastle train said she saw Gascoigne’s tongue.
The alleged victim said the star had tried to sit on her lap.
She said he had been shouting and swearing, was surrounded by drink cans and had food smeared on his face. Giving evidence from behind a screen, the married woman said: “It was sloppy. It was not like a peck on a cheek. It was very full on the lips. I just completely froze.
“I tried keeping my mouth firmly shut. I used my hand to push him away. I said: ‘That’s not OK. Get off.’” When she got off at the next station, she looked behind to check she was not being followed and called police, Teesside Crown Court heard. Other passengers told the former footballer that his behaviour amounted to sexual abuse.
One said Gascoigne appeared panic-stricken and desperate to get away. When officers tracked him down, he said he had done it because he “felt sorry for her” and wanted to “reassure her” after fellow passengers had abused her over her weight.
Passenger Alisan Burden, who witnessed the kiss, said: “I couldn’t believe what he had actually done.
“It made no sense at all. The woman had not engaged with him.”
As passengers confronted Gascoigne, he told them: “I was just trying to give her some confidence.”
The footballer denies sexual assault by intentional touching.
William Mousley, prosecuting, said whatever Gascoigne’s motive, the woman had found her ordeal shocking.
The trial continues.