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Daily Record
Daily Record
Entertainment
Peter Davidson & Nicholas Keyden

Rangers legend Paul Gascoigne cleared of sexual assault charge

has been found not guilty of sexual assault after an incident on a train in 2018.

The former Rangers star has been cleared of the charge after kissing a woman on a train, but the jury at Teesside Crown Court is still considering an alternative charge of assault by beating.

Gascoigne, who denied a single charge of sexual assault, told Teesside Crown Court that he kissed the woman on the York to Newcastle train in August 2018 to boost her confidence after he claimed he heard someone call her fat.

The 52-year-old wept in the dock as he was cleared of sexual assault.

Judge Peter Armstrong told the jury he will now accept a majority verdict on the lesser, alternative count that they are still considering.

As he left court, Gascoigne wiped his eye with a tissue and hugged his agent.

In her closing speech to the jury Michelle Heeley QC, defending, told jurors the former footballer kissed a woman who was not expecting it and did not like it, but that did not make him a sex offender.

She said the kiss lasted two or three seconds, was on a packed train, and was not preceded by any "lecherous comment", touching or groping.

She said it might have been "misplaced", but it was not sexual.

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