Back on the booze... but Gazza ‘in control’
SOCCER ACE INSISTS HE’S ON TOP OF THINGS
FOOTBALL legend Paul “Gazza” Gascoigne is drinking again – but claims he’s now able to control how much boozing he does.
While admitting he will “always be an alcoholic”, Gazza, from Dunston, Gateshead, says he can limit himself to “a couple of glasses of wine or a few glasses of beer”.
The former Newcastle United, Spurs, Lazio, Rangers, Middlesbrough and England star’s battle with booze, leading to a number of stints in rehab, has been welldocumented.
Now he’s drinking again – but says he only does it when he wants to.
“I’ll always be an alcoholic,” he told The Sun, “but now I can have a couple of glasses of wine, and I have a few beers. “Not every day, but when I want to.” Gazza added: “I don’t ever drink when...well, put it this way – if I want a drink I’ll have a drink. If I don’t want one I’ll just leave it, which is not the right thing, but I’ve been like that for ages.”
But he’s sworn off spirits, saying:
“I’m on top of things at the moment. I’m enjoying life.”
Gazza previously revealed when he was off booze that he heads to the tattoo parlour to curb any urge to head to the pub.
He told the Daily Star: “I’m getting tattoos because I love them and I’ve got f ****** nothing else to do.
“If I don’t go to the tattooists, I’ll go to the pub and drink. To be honest, I’d rather go to my tattooist.”
Meanwhile, Paul’s been lined up for the Italian version of I’m A Celebrity...get Me Out Of Here!
He’s currently isolating in a Milan hotel before jetting out to the show’s location in Honduras.
“This Italian one is 10 weeks,” he said, “You eat rice and I’m hoping it’ll leave me with a great sun tan and I’ll stop smoking.
“I’m brushing up on my Italian at the moment. I can understand more than I can speak, but I’ll be OK.”
Gazza became a household name in Italy during his three-year stint at Lazio in the ’90s.
He continued: “I’ve met some of the contestants. I don’t know who they are and a lot of the young girls didn’t really know me either.
“But a guy who was a Lazio fan dropped to his knees in front of me and started praying. That was a bit embarrassing.”
A FRAUDSTER who told bank staff he was a hostage who was being forced to carry out a con has been jailed.
Tremayne Williams went into the Natwest branch in Newcastle city centre in November last year and told the bank teller he had been ordered to fraudulently withdraw cash from a business account.
A court heard the 42-year-old fraudster told staff “two men were waiting outside” and he “needed help”.
Williams was initially treated as a victim of crime and offered help by the police, who later found out he had used the stolen identity of a man from the Chester-le-street area to try and buy a Rolex watch worth over £29,000.
Newcastle Crown Court was told Williams had taken an American Express card out using the victim’s details and splashed out on over £2,000 worth of property before trying to make the £29,350 purchase, which was declined.
And when police searched his home they found eight bank and credit cards, two identity cards, four driving licences, two card readers, two chip and pin readers and a passport belonging to a Sunderland University student that had been stolen during a break-in.
Prosecutor Rupert Doswell said: “Initially he was treated as a victim of crime rather than a suspect.
“Police informed him, in order to safeguard him, that they needed to know if he was being threatened and if he had been drawn into something.
“At that point the defendant stated he had made money from them. He said ‘I’ve made £15,000 but they have taken that.’”
Williams, who has previous convictions for fraud offences, told police the criminal gang had been “threatening and harassing” him and that they were “dangerous people”. Mr Doswell said the items found at Williams’ home would have allowed him to commit “multiple frauds”.
Prosecutors did not accept Williams was a “hostage” as he stated but accept “some pressure” may have been applied to him by others.
Williams, of High Quay, Newcastle, admitted two offences of fraud, one of making articles for use in fraud, handling stolen goods and possessing articles for use in fraud.
Mr Justice Lavender sentenced him to a total of 22 months behind bars.
The judge said the events in the bank were “curious” and told Williams: “You have not provided anything like a full explanation of your activities.”
Andrew Walker, defending, said: “It’s a highly unusual feature that he walked into a bank and confessed to a member of staff he had gone there to carry out a fraudulent activity.
“The confession was designed not only to thwart the transaction but to bring about his own arrest.”