Footballer ‘denied child sex charge to carry on playing’
Star made £3m after arrest, then confessed
FOOTBALLER Adam Johnson hid his guilt over having sex with a 15-year-old girl for almost a year so he could earn an extra £3million while prolonging the ‘excruciating pain’ of his victim, a court heard yesterday.
Johnson, 28, had continued to earn £60,000 a week at Sunderland while denying all four charges against him – before pleading guilty to two of the offences on the first day of his trial.
Bradford Crown Court heard that his fans had heaped abuse on the girl because he maintained his public silence until his guilty pleas two weeks ago.
When the allegations emerged last March Johnson was only briefly suspended by his club, despite telling them ‘everything’ he had done with the besotted fan, the court heard. He was then reinstated.
He earned £2,966,000 between his arrest and the date he pleaded guilty – when he was immediately sacked. Referring to his weekly pay, prosecutor Kate Blackwell, QC, asked: ‘Were there 60,000 very good reasons each week to maintain your not guilty pleas?’ Johnson replied: ‘I have no control over fans.’
The prosecutor said: ‘£60,000 a week, was that playing on your mind.’ Johnson said: ‘No.’
He told the jury he spoke frankly to bosses at Sunderland immediately after he was arrested for sexual activity with a child in March.
He admitted passionately kissing the girl in his Range Rover when interviewed by police and repeated all the details when he spoke to his club, the court heard. ‘I said I made a huge mistake,’ he said.
But Johnson was allowed to return to playing for the club before his second interview with police the following month when he apologised ‘unreservedly’ to the girl for inappropriate sexual activity.
He was charged with four child sex offences and appeared in court in May. The jury heard his decision to follow legal advice and delay entering guilty pleas to two of the offences also enabled him to avoid being forced to sign on to the Sex Offenders’ Register.
The footballer denied the prosecutor’s suggestion that he was hoping the ‘stress and anxiety’ suffered by the girl during the intervening period before the trial would cause the case to ‘crumble away’.
Johnson played his last game for Sunderland on February 6, throwing his shirt into the crowd at the end. Miss Blackwell said: ‘Is that because you knew the game was up? The game you have been playing with these courts.’ Johnson replied: ‘I knew there was a possibility it could happen, yes.’
He admitted he was ‘arrogant’ and was ‘adored by fans and showered with affection’. Recalling the start of his friendship with the girl, Johnson said he knew she ‘idolised’ him and stayed around after home matches to try to speak to him.
Johnson admitted he was attracted to her at this early stage. They exchanged 806 text messages in five weeks, which Johnson later deleted. ‘I didn’t want to be seen to be texting a young girl,’ he said.
He said that when he got her to agree to give him a ‘thank you kiss’ for signing club shirts he hoped she would go further, but insisted that after the kiss nothing happened.
Johnson said the girl lied in her evidence by claiming he touched her intimately and got her to perform a sex act.
The case continues.
‘I said I made a huge mistake’