BY TIM PARSONS AND LUCY CAULKETT
Jurors in the trial of 28 year old footballer, Adam Johnson, have begun considering verdicts on two counts of sexual activity with a 15-year-old schoolgirl.
The Sunderland footballer who stands accused of performing sex acts on a teenager in his Range Rover car on 30 January last year will soon learn of his fate in this trial that has so far gripped the nation.
Johnson, on the first day of his trial, admitted two charges of sexually grooming and kissing the girl. The trial at Bradford crown court ended on Tuesday and the jury of eight women and four men began deliberating their verdicts at 11.52am today with his father, sister and ex-girlfriend Stacey Flounders all sitting together in the front row of the public gallery, out of his sight.
The complainant, who is now 16, during the case disclosed to the prosecution of the footballer’s groin area, which he stupidly sent to her. She admitted to the court during this trial that she could not resist bragging to her friends about her encounter with the £60,000 a week footballer, who has previously been caught by his girlfriend texting other girls. She was a Sunderland season ticket holder who “idolized” Johnson and regularly waited outside the club’s stadium of Light for a picture with him.
The pair began swapping messages on New Year’s Eve and 18 days later Johnson met the girl to give her a signed Sunderland shirt. The next time they met, on 30 January, they engaged in sexual acts in his car behind a Chinese takeaway in Co Durham.
The self confessed ‘stupid’ footballer, told his trial that Sunderland AFC knew that he admitted kissing and sending explicit messages to the girl as long ago as May 2015. He reflected on his decision to involve with the under age girl, describing it as ‘stupid’ in a statement to police. His girlfriend who told the trial that she stayed with Johnson because she wanted to keep the family, also said the relationship was over but that she will remain friends with him.
Judge, Jonathan Rose, reminded jurors on Monday that Johnson had admitted lying on eight occasions. However, he said “lies alone cannot prove a case” and that the jury must not assume he is guilty because he lied.
“The prosecution says these lies were told in an attempt to conceal Adam Johnson’s guilt,” he said, but the footballer’s lawyer claimed that the lies told are ”merely the panicked response of a man who had done wrong by his family”.
The judge told the jurors they must try to reach unanimous verdicts on both counts.
“When you retire you must reach verdicts upon which you are all agreed. I can only accept unanimous verdicts in this case – 12-0 is the only possible score,” Judge Rose stated.
“You may have heard of majority verdicts. They do not apply in this case and they may never apply in this case.” We await the verdict.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Johnson_%28footballer%29
