ONE STEP AT A TIME FOR GAZZA

Thursday May 8,2008

David Pilditch

THIS was Paul Gascoigne yesterday taking a short walk from his rehab centre.

The former England star, who once dazzled the world with his footballing talent, popped out to a local shop – flanked by a minder – for cigarettes and a car magazine before returning to the Priory Clinic in south west London.

But his family admit they are fighting a losing battle to help the troubled star through his latest crisis.

Gascoigne, 40, checked into the celebrity rehab centre where he is being treated by addiction experts after an apparent attempted suicide in a hotel on Sunday.

Stepdaughter Bianca, 21, said his family would support him but added: “I have learnt that my dad is seriously ill and it is something we are powerless to control or to help with.”

Staff at the Millennium Hotel in Knightsbridge became concerned by his behaviour on Sunday. Police found Gascoigne apparently trying to drown himself in a bath.