"But we don't have access to the sum total of the evidence.His counsel would have given advice initially and he denied the charge. Something must have changed significantly for him to change his mind."
It's almost certainly nothing to do with evidence, ag.Countless numbers of defendants change their plea at the door of the courtroom on trial day in Magistrates' courts. They give it a "run for their money". They will have been advised that, should key witnesses fail to turn up, there is a very good chance that the prosecution will offer no evidence and away they will go.
Defendants get a third off their sentence for an early guilty plea. If they plead guilty on trial day that discount is reduced to 5%-10%. In Mr Gascoigne's case he was fined £1,000 so the "run for his money" probably cost him less than £500. He would also have paid an increased contribution to prosecution costs. It's not said how much this would have cost him. A guilty plea attracts £85 costs; preparing the matter for trial will probably cause the prosecutor to ask for around £500. For a person such as Mr Gascoigne who, for some unfathomable reason, gets paid about a Grand a pop to give a speech, the gamble of a few hundred quid against the chance of an acquittal is good value. When he turned up for his trial this morning his Brief would have told him that all the witnesses were there and ready to go, so the best thing he can do is to stick his hand up.