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Ex-footballer sues over leaked video
Ex-footballer sues over leaked video
Guardian News and Media/London
Paul Gascoigne has launched a six-figure legal claim against the Daily Star over a leaked mobile phone video allegedly stolen from his flat.
The former England footballer is suing the tabloid for defamation and invasion of privacy over the video, published in February under the headline: Caught on film: Gazza’s descent into booze and drugs madness.
Gascoigne was shown slumped and talking incoherently in the footage filmed on a camera days before he was flown to the US for emergency intensive care for alcohol addiction.
In a lawsuit filed at the high court in London and seen by MediaGuardian, Gascoigne claims the mobile phone footage was stolen from his property and leaked to the Daily Star in a “gross invasion” of his privacy.
The former Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur and Lazio midfielder is suing the paper for defamation over its claim that he was caught injecting cocaine, an allegation he vehemently denies.
“This was a gross invasion of Paul’s privacy and he feels very strongly about pressing this claim,” said Gascoigne’s solicitor, Gerald Shamash, of the law firm Steel Shamash.“Despite his well-documented problems with alcohol, Paul is entitled to his privacy.”
Gascoigne is believed to be seeking close to a six-figure damages payout from the Daily Star publisher, Richard Desmond’s Northern Shell, over the video. Stills from the footage appeared in a double-page spread in the Daily Star on February 13, when Gascoigne was recovering from intensive care in a clinic in Phoenix, Arizona.
The article claimed the video was filmed by Gascoigne’s “former pal”, Shane Abbott, 36, and reported that he had “revealed the full horror of addict Gazza’s lifestyle to the Daily Star in the hope it will help him face up to his problems”.
It added: “Worried Shane captured Gazza’s descent into drug and booze hell in a shocking video that he showed him in a bid to make him stop. In the film, Gazza holed up in his flat is mumbling, groaning and close to tears.”