liar and a little footballer trial
‘ I thought when I told him my age he’d back off’
girlfriend Stacey Flounders, 26, was just days away from giving birth to their daughter Ayla yet the footballer bombarded the girl with hundreds of text messages which she told Bradford Crown Court were “a bit creepy”.
She added: “I thought that when I told him my age he would have backed off. Who just asks for a random fan’s number? Someone texting a 15- year- old girl – they’re not completely normal.”
After learning of the “friendship” the girl’s mother warned: “Don’t stalk him.” The star met the girl in a car park outside a Chinese takeaway in County Durham on January 17 2015, and gave her two signed Sunderland shirts.
He later asked for another meeting to receive a “thankyou kiss... and more”.
Their next meeting was on January 30 and the girl told the jury Johnson complained her jeans were too tight and hurt his hand as he assaulted her.
The girl, who was a “top set pupil”, admitted subsequently “bigging herself up” in social media chats with friends following the meeting.
Crying, the teenager continued: “I was trying to big myself up as any 15- year- old girl would. When you idolise someone and that happens to you, you’re not thinking at the time.”
The girl became upset as she insisted that she had not wanted to get the £ 50,000- a- week footballer in trouble. She added: “It made no difference to me whether they knew about me and Adam Johnson. It was him who was going to suffer for it.”
The girl insisted she was still trying to protect her hero when she failed to tell police the extent of their second encounter. The jury heard rumours were rife at the girl’s school about her relationship with the £ 10million player and she said that her entire year and some teachers knew about it. She confessed she lied when she told a friend Johnson had given her cash and promised to buy her a Range Rover with a personalised plate, describing the boasts as “having a laugh”.
She revealed the affair to her father on February 25 after being horrified by a Facebook group chat about her relationship with the England winger in which she was verbally abused and threatened with rape.
Her mother took her to the police the following day – against her wishes – leading to Johnson’s arrest.
The court was told the girl also tried to make contact with Johnson’s then Sunderland colleague Connor Wickham. The girl “liked” lots of the striker’s photos. Wickham reported it to police. The girl said she made contact on behalf of a friend and insisted: “It makes no difference to what happened with Mr Johnson.” The trial continues.