When Steph Shilton, wife of former England goalkeeper Peter Shilton, first spotted him sneaking away to make telephone calls in private, it ignited suspicions that he was cheating on her with another woman.

She later discovered he was in the grip of a chronic gambling addiction which saw him fritter away millions of pounds betting on horses, losing everything hed ever earned.

Discovering Peter wasnt being unfaithful to her was little solace to Steph. The way it makes you feel, its as though you have been cheated on, she explains. It was exactly like Peter had been having an affair.

You realise youve been lied to and you find out they have been having a secret life and that makes you feel the same way as if there had been another woman.

Youre competing with a third party in your relationship and for me, that was a gambling company.

Peter Shilton, 72, is one of Englands footballing greats, with a 30-year career spanning 11 clubs, more than 1,000 league games, and he holds the title of Englands most capped player.

But Peter was also hiding a 45-year gambling addiction which he only conquered after falling in love with Steph, whom he married in December 2016 the same year he finally quit gambling.

During Mental Health Awareness Week, Steph has exclusively shared with i that she has started a new role as an ambassador for Addiction Recovery Agency (Ara)s Six To Ten project, which seeks to support those affected by someone elses gambling.

The pilot project, across the North West and South West of England, and all of Wales, is the first of its kind to offer direct support to loved ones rather than the addict. If successful, it will be rolled out nationally.

Steph says a lot of existing work centres around the gambling addict and she describes loved ones as the silent victims research suggests on average, six to 10 people are at risk of gambling-related harms as a result of a loved ones addiction.

Loved ones can be the key to someone quitting and recovering from a gambling addiction and can be the antidote, she says. They can be just as much a victim as the addict.

The couple first met 10 years ago in a hotel lift when Steph, a former NHS manager and semi-professional jazz singer, was away on a spa weekend with friends and Peter was at a conference.

She confesses that she was unaware how big a sporting giant he was and knew nothing about football. We got talking and just clicked straight away, she says. But, I could sense a real sadness about him. I could see it in his eyes.

Despite having a great career and wonderful friendships and a social network, I hadnt told anyone, but I was lonely. I looked at Peter and thought: You look like how I feel, she says.

The couple fell in love and Peter soon moved into Stephs home in Colchester, but before long, her suspicions were aroused by some odd behaviour.

He kept going outside to use his phone rather than in front of me, she explains. He was behaving shiftily, and I became suspicious and thought he had another woman.

Steph turned detective and asked to borrow Peters phone. Noticing a number he was dialling frequently, she scribbled it down and called it when he wasnt at home.

To her surprise, it was a betting company.

At this stage, I didnt realise it was a problem, she says. I initially thought he liked a flutter and was being sweet and gentlemanly by hiding it from me as we had not been together very long.

I knew he liked watching horse racing and it fell into place that when we went out for lunch or somewhere, Peter would sometimes get anxious about getting home for a certain time.

Steph raised this with Peter and told him that he didnt need to sneak around or hide his enjoyment of gambling. However, as time went by, the severity sunk in.

She would wake up in the middle of the night to find he wasnt there. I sneaked downstairs one night and I saw him on his laptop watching horse racing in Australia and placing bets.

It dawned on me that this was a huge problem. But talking proved fruitless as Peter was in denial. He just blocked me out and the more I pushed it, the more defensive he became.

This went on for two or three years until Peter proposed to Steph. She told him until he addressed his gambling they could not get married.

I had always been financially stable and had a good job and savings and knew I needed to protect myself. I was worried I would be jointly liable for any debts.

At the same time, I loved Peter and realised he had a serious problem.

Things came to a head in August 2013 when Peter went to India for three weeks and Steph engaged in a cat and mouse endeavour to access his gambling accounts.

Then a bank statement arrived. I knew that would give me the answers, recalls Steph.

She tussled with her conscience for three days. I knew Id be breaking the law by opening the mail and also betraying Peters trust. But I was so worried about him and knew I had to do it.

Stunned by pages and pages of transactions, Steph calculated that Peter had lost 18,000 in just one month. The shock was horrendous, she remembers. I knew he had a problem but didnt realise the severity of it until I saw that bank statement.

She contacted the betting company begging them to help Peter. However, she says they cited data protection and said they couldnt discuss it with her.

I later had it forensically looked into and Peter had lost 800,000 with that company. Of course they werent going to do anything when he was such a good customer, she says.

Steph says Peter lost millions to gambling Peter has previously written about not knowing exactly how much he has lost. He lost everything, she says. Everything he earned in his career ended up with the bookies.

For those with an addiction the compulsion to spend is like a heroin addiction, says Steph. They will bet everything they have coming in and when thats gone, theyll look for other ways to fund it.

As soon as Peter quit, I made him promise he would never look back as that doesnt help with the mental anguish.

When Steph confronted Peter about the bank statement he was furious with her for opening his mail. But she knew she had the evidence she needed that he needed help.

A month later, Steph suffered a miscarriage. Through the tragedy came a glimmer of hope. Peter nursed me for three days and didnt leave my side, she recalls. He was an amazing support and I noticed he didnt gamble once during those days.

Something inside me felt there was light at the end of the tunnel and that maybe he could do this and beat gambling for me; for us.

I never threatened to leave him as I knew that was the worst thing I could do when he was living with immense mental anguish, says Steph.

But one night, she moved out of their bedroom into the spare room saying she needed some time out. It gave Peter the wake-up call he needed fearing he might lose her and he finally acknowledged it was time to quit. But there was no quick fix.

Some people wrongly presume Peter quit gambling and we ran off into the sunset to live happily ever after.

Peter went into really bad withdrawal which shocked me, she remembers. It was like going cold turkey with a drug addiction. His body craved a bet just like a drug.

He couldnt function at all and had to start a whole new life and was all over the place. His withdrawal symptoms went on for three months, but he didnt fully settle for around a year. Peter was so up and down with his moods and I felt I was on eggshells as I didnt want anything to upset him as I feared hed go back to gambling.

As well as struggling with Peters withdrawal, Steph was also hit with loneliness as she felt she couldnt talk to anyone in case the story was leaked.

The new Six To Ten pilot will give loved ones a designated support worker to tackle loneliness and help arrange support for issues ranging from legal, financial and housing support to emotional support and arranging counselling all free of charge.

Ara, Beacon Counselling Trust and DrugFAM came together to develop the service which Steph feels is desperately needed.

Steph says their awareness-raising efforts are also looking to tackle stigma and the language used about gambling addiction. Gambling addiction is a mental illness and the public arent fully educated.

Ultimately, she says, her biggest fear was that gambling could end Peters life. I had this fear Petes gambling was spiralling so out of control that if I walked out, he might do something to himself.

It just broke my heart that this great man who had achieved so much on a global scale was struggling so much with this crippling mental illness of gambling addiction.

Steph adds that looking at Pete now fills her with pride and joy. My love and commitment to Pete was never in question and I never considered leaving him.

To see him in the best place is my reward.

For more information about Addiction Recovery Agency and the Six To Ten project, call: 0330 1241274 or email info@thesixtoten.co.uk

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Steph Shilton on husband Peter's gambling addiction, his lost football millions and helping others recover - iNews