Former Rangers player Paul Gascoigne has been cleared of sexually assaulting a woman on a train after he kissed her on the lips.

The 52-year-old told jurors he had no sexual intention when he planted the kiss on the stranger, who he said had been abused by another passenger.

Gascoigne, who denied a single charge of sexual assault, told Teesside Crown Court 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.

On Thursday, a jury cleared him of that offence, plus a less serious alternative charge of assault by beating which they were told to consider by Judge Peter Armstrong.

Michelle Heeley QC, defending, had argued that when Gascoigne kissed the stranger there was no sexual intent.

She said the former player 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, on a packed train, and was not preceded by any "lecherous comment", touching or groping.

She showed the jury photos of Gascoigne kissing fellow players and fans, and his character witnesses described him as tactile.

Gascoigne claimed to have heard a man make an abusive comment about the woman's weight and, to boost her confidence, he gave her a kiss on the lips, before telling her she was neither fat nor ugly.

The complainant, who cannot be named by the media, was shocked that she was kissed "out of the blue", telling the jury she had not consented.

Police later traced Gascoigne to a hotel in Jesmond, Newcastle, and when an officer spoke to him on the phone, prior to arrest, the footballer said: "I know what it's about, I kissed a fat lass."

During his evidence, Gascoigne spoke of his own battle with his weight, struggles with bulimia and bullying suffered by family members who were picked on at school for being fat.

He denied being drunk, saying he had undergone an operation in Australia to have pellets implanted in his stomach which made him sick if he drank spirits.

At the end of the trial Judge Peter Armstrong told Gascoigne: "You are now discharged and free to go." The former World Cup star can apply to have his defence costs paid.

During legal argument in the absence of the jury, the prosecution tried and failed to be allowed to tell the jury about Gascoigne's previous convictions which include offences of battery, criminal damage and a charge of racially aggravated harassment.

Outside court, he smiled and stood beside his solicitor Imogen Cox as she read a statement on his behalf, saying: "To have a sexual allegation for over 12 months has been tough.

"I am so glad I was finally able to put over my side of the story and that the jury came to the correct verdict." He thanked his legal team and agents, as well as friends and family for their support.

He also thanked character witnesses, the ex-boxers Ricky Hatton and Jane Couch, his former agent Mel Stein and his addiction therapist Paul Spanjar for telling the court "such lovely things about me".

His statement concluded: "I'm now looking forward to getting on with my life." Gascoigne himself then said: "I am off to the dentist."

That was an apparent reference to his implants which featured in the trial - as the defence explained his slurred speech on the train was due to the fact he was missing his bottom implants.

Giving evidence during the trial, Gascoigne removed them to show how it affected his speech.

In his closing speech, William Mousley QC, had told the jury Gascoigne was not telling the truth about what went on with the woman on the train, and had "lied through his teeth, whichever teeth they were".