This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/mar/01/jury-goes-out-in-adam-johnson-trial

The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 1 Version 2
Jury goes out in Adam Johnson trial Adam Johnson jury told to reach unanimous verdict
(about 5 hours later)
Jurors in the trial of the footballer Adam Johnson have begun considering verdicts on two counts of sexual activity with a 15-year-old schoolgirl. The judge in the trial of the footballer Adam Johnson has instructed jurors to return unanimous verdicts on two charges of child sex offences, telling them that “12-0 is the only possible score”.
The England midfielder has denied that he and the teenager performed sex acts on each other in his Range Rover car on 30 January last year. Judge Jonathan Rose sent out the jury at 11.52am on Tuesday to begin considering verdicts on two counts of sexual activity with a 15-year-old girl.
On the first day of his trial Johnson 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. The England midfielder has denied that he and the teenager performed sex acts on each other in his Range Rover on 30 January last year. On the first day of his trial at Bradford crown court last month, Johnson admitted two charges of sexually grooming and kissing the girl.
Johnson, from Castle Eden in County Durham, sat in the glass-panelled dock at the rear of the court as the jury were sent out. His father, sister and ex-girlfriend Stacey Flounders sat together in the front row of the public gallery, out of his sight. On Tuesday the jury of eight women and four men were sent home at 4pm after deliberating for three hours and eight minutes. They will continue their deliberations on Wednesday.
Johnson had denied all four of the allegations until the first day of his trial, when he pleaded guilty to the charges related to grooming and kissing. He continued to deny that he did anything further than kiss the teenager and disputed her allegation that they engaged in two further sexual acts. Earlier, Johnson, from Castle Eden in County Durham, sat in the glass-panelled dock at the rear of the court as the jurors left the courtroom. His father, sister and ex-girlfriend Stacey Flounders were sitting together in the front row of the public gallery, out of his sight.
The victim, now 16, was a Sunderland season ticket holder who “idolised” Johnson and regularly waited outside the club’s stadium of Light for a picture withhim, the court had heard. As he sent the jurors out, Rose told them: “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.
They 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. “You may have heard of majority verdicts. They do not apply in this case and they may never apply in this case. What you must strive to do is reach unanimous verdicts.”
The £60,000-a-week 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. Johnson had denied all four of the allegations until the first day of his trial, when he pleaded guilty to the charges related to grooming and kissing the girl. He continued to deny that he did anything more than kiss the teenager, and disputed her allegation that they engaged in two further sexual acts.
The 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 victim, now 16, was a Sunderland season ticket holder who “idolised” Johnson and regularly waited outside the club’s Stadium of Light for a picture withhim, the court has heard.
“The prosecution says these lies were told in an attempt to conceal Adam Johnson’s guilt,” he said, butthe defence case was that “such lies as he has told are merely the panicked response of a man who had done wrong by his family”. They 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 was on 30 January in his car behind a Chinese takeaway in Co Durham.
The judge told the jurors they must try to reach unanimous verdicts on both counts. Johnson told his trial that his employer Sunderland AFC had known that he admitted kissing and sending explicit messages to the girl as long ago as May 2015.
“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,” he said. Rose reminded jurors on Monday that Johnson had admitted lying on eight occasions. However, he said, “lies alone cannot prove a case”, and the jury must not assume he was guilty because he lied.
“You may have heard of majority verdicts. They do not apply in this case and they may never apply in this case.” “The prosecution says these lies were told in an attempt to conceal Adam Johnson’s guilt,” he said, but the defence case was that “such lies as he has told are merely the panicked response of a man who had done wrong by his family”.