Steph Shilton joins charity who help family of addicts

Steph Shilton works with a charity which helps people overcome their addiction issues

The wife of a former England football player has joined forces with a Bristol charity to support families affected by gambling.

Peter Shilton was addicted to gambling for 45 years until his wife helped him overcome it.

Steph Shilton is now starting work with charity Ara which helps people suffering with addiction and homelessness.

She said the loved ones of gambling addicts often "suffer in silence".

Her personal experiences have inspired her to become a support worker for the charity which aims to help the six to 10 people who are affected by any one problem gambler.

The Six To Ten Project is a pilot and the first of its kind in the UK.

'Chronic illness'

It aims to provide tangible support to wives, partners, friends and others on issues ranging from housing, financial, legal to mental and physical wellbeing.

Mrs Shilton said: "There tends to be a stigma about it. It's a full blown chronic illness. It's no different to drug abuse. My husband went through full-blown withdrawal symptoms.

"Because I've been a loved one myself, I recognise how lonely and how difficult it is.

Mr Shilton battled a gambling addiction for decades

"They say there are 1.4m people affected by gambling in this country so if you look at the loved ones that are suffering in silence, it means so much.

"We really need to be reaching out to those individuals and to actually be one of those on the end of the phone. It's really special."

'Addicted gambler'

Mr Shilton had a very successful career in football where he played over three decades becoming England's most capped players.

But during this time he gambled away millions on horses and on online platforms and said he was ashamed of his addiction.

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"When you're an addicted gambler, you're very silent. You don't want anyone to know about it, especially with gambling," he explained.

"You have a win every now and again and then you think you'll get your money back, and you don't. You're wasting money and wasting time and that's really what I faced up to."

The project will run for 18 months and if successful will be rolled out across the country.