How do I tell my little girl Daddy went to prison for grooming a 15-year- old schoolgirl?
As England football star who molested a young fan is set to be freed, the woman who stood by him until she discovered the horrific truth, asks...
STACEY FLOUNDERS was watching from the public gallery of a packed courtroom when her world came crashing down. The man she’d built her life around was standing in the dock, just a few feet away – exposed to the world as a serial cheat and a paedophile who had groomed, kissed and sexually touched a 15-year-old schoolgirl. Stacey had publicly stood by star footballer Adam Johnson, the father of their child. She’d believed his initial denials and was pictured at his side as they walked into Bradford Crown Court together. Now her humiliation was complete. ‘It was the moment I realised who Adam really was,’ says Stacey. ‘All I’d ever wanted was a normal family, a couple of kids and a nice life. It all just fell apart.
‘ I watched the man I had been in love with – the man I wanted to marry – disappear.
‘I knew then that Adam was an arrogant man who had lied and lied. He’d known this girl’s age. He’d sent her hundreds of messages. It was horrific. The worst thing is this: one day we will have to tell our daughter what kind of man her father really is.’
If it was horrific to hear the man she loved admit such serious charges, Stacey’s ordeal was by no means over – and it was for the sake of her baby Ayla that she made a now-notorious decision. Despite pleading guilty to two of the counts against him, Johnson still faced more serious charges. And with the trial continuing, Stacey stepped into the witness box in his defence – with evidence that helped partially clear the man who’d betrayed her so grotesquely.
A storm of criticism followed. Stacey was called a gold digger, a bitch and even a paedophile herself.
Today, 29-year-old Stacey is speaking for the first time about her life-changing ordeal and her desperate attempt to cling to some semblance of normality.
It is a full three years since the trial – when Johnson was handed a six-year jail term – yet she sobs and shakes at the memory of it all. Due to be released in just a few weeks, his prospects are uncertain to say the least. It is possible the 31-year-old will never play professionally again.
Yet Johnson had been pursuing a glittering career with Manchester City and England when he and Stacey first met in 2011 at a pub gathering. That year he won the FA Cup with City, the following year the Premier League.
For all the wealth and professional success, Stacey insists she was attracted to the man rather than life as a WAG.
She says: ‘He was clean-cut, with good manners. He would do things like open doors for me. I felt like he knew how to treat a girl. He was also very confident, which I liked because I’m very shy. I fell in love with Adam’s personality, not because he was a footballer – he was interested and interesting,’
At the time, Stacey was working for her father’s recruitment firm, splitting her time between an office in Norway and her home in Hartlepool. She and Johnson hit it off, and soon they were living together in Manchester. The monied lifestyle was no hardship, of course, and Stacey describes lavish holidays to Dubai and Tenerife and expensive presents including a ring with black and white diamonds for Valentine’s Day. But she says there was plenty of simple affection between them, too.
‘ We weren’t flash,’ she insists. ‘Adam was good with money – I liked that. He was everything I’d ever wanted – the way he looked at me, cuddled me and constantly touched my hair.
‘We had a great social life and would go out with the other players. But Adam also loved nights in watching The X Factor or a box set. He was a normal, loving guy and we had a healthy personal life.
‘I could never have imagined he’d do what he did.’
In 2012 Johnson changed clubs, moving to Sunderland in a £10 million deal. The couple bought a £1.6 million home in Castle Eden, a picturesque village in County Durham, and when Stacey fell pregnant soon afterwards they looked forward to life as a family.
It was then, she says, that things started to change.
‘We did less together, he always wanted to be with the lads,’ she reflects. ‘At Manchester City we were encouraged to be part of the team. At Sunderland, Adam just wanted to go out without me. If Sunderland won he wanted to go out. If they lost he’d stay in with me. I started to wish they’d lose.
‘He went on a two-week end-of-season boys’ holiday to Los Angeles and I barely heard from him. If I’m honest, I hated him being a footballer. Everyone thinks it is a good life
I watched the man I had loved so much exposed as an arrogant liar I’d say, “Who are you messaging?” but he’d tell me to stop being nosy or call me a psycho