Premier League football player Adam Johnson made two internet searches about the legal age of consent after engaging in sexual activity with a 15-year-old, a court heard.
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The prosecution case against former Sunderland and England player Adam Johnson has opened at Bradford Crown Court.
A media storm surrounded Bradford Crown Court as Sunderland footballer Adam Johnson attended for the first day of his trial.
The pair met near a Chinese takeaway on 17 January in the footballer’s black Range Rover and he signed shirts.
He is accused of two counts of sexual activity with a teenage schoolgirl.
“The crown’s case is that sexual activity took place”.
Johnson’s trial for the two contested charges begins Friday.
“After matches, she would hang around waiting for a glimpse of him, keen for any contact, an autograph or, even better, a photograph”, said Ms Blackwell.
The girl is a Sunderland fan (he got fired from the team yesterday) and prosecutors say she idolized him.
But then, 13 seconds later, he said to Miss Flounders: “Yeah, she looks class. She’s changing loads”. He was her absolute hero.
The girl replied: “Next time”.
‘Just wanted to get your jeans off, LOL’. On January 30 they met there again, and kissed, as well as unzipped her jeans.
Johnson did not respond to her message “because he was engaged with the girl” the jury heard.
He will stand trial tonight on two further counts of sexual activity with a child, which he denies. He knew how much she idolised him. According to The Guardian, prosecutors said the two would go on to exchange 834 texts over two months and would meet in a parking lot where Johnson gave her a signed jersey.
It was confirmed earlier today that manager Sam Allardyce would not pick Johnson to face United following Wednesday’s developments while his boot deal with Adidas also terminated.
Adam Johson was born in Sunderland and played for Middlesbrough before moving to Manchester City and then to hometown club Sunderland in 2012 for a fee of $10 million.
Within hours of the alleged sexual encounter, Johnson is said to have sent a message to the girl saying: “Wasn’t bad was it?”.
She allegedly replied that she was not old enough to go out, but Johnson replied: “Yeah but you look old enough”.
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Miss Blackwell told the jury that Johnson told her to delete their conversations, at one point telling her: “Don’t forget to delete this convo please”.
