The trial of Adam Johnson (part 2)

As I said on a post earlier, is this girl naïve?

I'm pretty sure that 99% of girls know about sex at that age and under, and they must also know what the rights and wrongs are.

Also in saying what I have said I am not slagging her off in any way, just curious like everyone how she is portraying her side of the story.

It still remains that AJ is a dirty stain on the face of mankind and am not defending him either.

 

And I 100% agree with that. He's not one of the top QC's in the country for nothing...

The barrister defending Sunderland footballer Adam Johnson is a Silk with a reputation as one of Britain’s most sough-after defence lawyers.

Orlando Pownall QC is known as one of the best at the Criminal Bar and was ranked as a ‘star’ by Chambers UK.

The authors of the guide to the legal profession praised Mr Pownall as “the most wonderful advocate” who is “hard-working, very classy and modest”.
They also wrote how he is a “supreme performer and an artist of the courtroom”.

Mr Pownall was called to the bar in 1975 and works at 2 Hare Court, a chambers in London. He specialises in business crime and financial services.

Although he prosecuted a large number of cases during his time as First Senior Treasury Counsel, since being appointed to Silk in 2002 he almost exclusively defends.

In November, he successfully defended New Zealand cricket captain Chris Cairns, who was tried for perjury and perverting the courts of justice.

This was a publicly-funded case, but most of Mr Pownall’s work is funded by private individuals.

The QC also represented Leonie Granger, the ‘honey-trap killer’ jailed for 16 years for luring a gambler to his death to steal his winnings.

Last year, he appeared at the Supreme Court to defend Gerry McGeough, who sought to appeal his conviction for attempted murder and membership of the IRA.

McGeough claimed that confidential information provided for the purpose of an application for refugee status was wrongly admitted in evidence, but the challenge was overturned.

Mr Pownall also defended staff at G4S who were charged with the unlawful killing of the deportee Jimmy Mubenga.

Another high-profile case was his defence of Danny Preddie, one of the brothers who was convicted of the manslaughter of 10-year-old schoolboy Damilola Taylor in 2006.

The QC was cited as a leader in crime by The Legal 500 and won Crime Silk of the Year 2008 in the Chambers Bar Award.

He is talented at modern languages, speaking German, Spanish and French to professional working proficiency. He also has a basic understanding of Italian.

Johnson, 28, of Castle Eden in County Durham, pleaded guilty to one count of sexual activity with a child under 16 and one count of grooming on the day of his trial at Bradford Crown Court on Wednesday. He will be tried in front of a jury of six men and six women on two further counts of sexual activity with a child, which he denies, on Friday.

 

Kids will often twist and turn a situation that's completely straightforward into spaghetti-junction. This won't be fooling any person on that jury, there isn't a hope in hell that any member of that Jury will treat her as anything other than what she is, a child.

Any lawyer basing his entire defense on a kid not telling the truth from the start is a ****ing mug and deserves no more than minimum wage.

 

The Judge will ensure that the jury do not take the age or the emotions of the case into consideration. If the defence can take the evidence from this lass apart, then the Judge will direct the Jury over this..
As I stated earlier, this case is set to last for two weeks and will have a lot of twists and turns..

 

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Mark Thompson
A summary of this afternoon's hearing:

The barrister representing shamed footballer Adam Johnson said a teenage girl has been "seriously wronged" by his grooming of her.

Johnson is on trial at Bradford Crown Court, where he stands accused of two counts of sexual activity with a child.

Last week, the ex-SAFC winger pleaded guilty to meeting a child following grooming and one count of sexual activity with a child.

Today at the same court Orlando Pownall QC, defending Johnson, cross-examined the complainant in these charges.

He opened his questioning by saying the girl had been "wronged" by his client.

"It is accepted that you have been seriously wronged by Adam Johnson," Mr Pownall said.

"You know he has pleaded guilty to sexual activity with you and to meeting up for the purpose of sexual activity following grooming."

In questioning the girl, who is under 16 and cannot be named for legal reasons, Mr Pownall accused her of telling "untruths" and asking people who knew her to lie on her behalf.

The girl admitted that she "did not want" her friends "to say to police" about one of the sex acts alleged to have taken place between her and Johnson

She told jurors: "I was still trying to keep Adam Johnson out of trouble."

The girl broke down in tears during her evidence and continued: "At that time I didn't realise it was wrong and I didn't realise that what had gone on was wrong."

She added: "I didn't want to believe it had happened.

"I was trying to forget about it and I was trying to still live normally."

In evidence, the girl told jurors she asked her friends to lie to police to "protect somebody else" not herself.

Under oath, the girl also admitted that she "consciously lied" to police regarding the whereabouts of a phone she was using while hers was examined by officers.

Her own phone was taken so WhatsApp messages between she and Johnson, of Castle Eden, County Durham, could be downloaded.

The girl was given another phone to use by a family member, for which she bought a SIM card - but when police asked for the phone, the girl asked her family member to lie and say it had been returned.

Mr Pownall also accused the girl of asking her friends to delete messages from their own phones which went into details of what happened between her and the footballer.

The girl said she "could not remember" specifically asking her friends to wipe their phones.

 

Based on what we know so far, Johnson has admitted guilt under:

s.15 Sexual Offences Act 2003 - Meeting a child following sexual grooming
s.9 Sexual Offences Act 2003 - Sexual Activity with a child [admitted kissing and touching]

There seems to have been some degree of oral sex based on what the girl has said, so Johnson if found guilty would fall under s.10 of the above - Causing or Inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

The first two are nailed on. If he's found guilty of the s.10 offence he is in big big trouble. The maximum sentence for that is 14 years.

 

Jesus 14 years is a long sentence but if he is found guilty of that he will deserve it. Whats the likely sentence of what he has admitted to already? I was guessing at least 18 month but that was just a guess.

 

If he is found guilty of all counts then he could be facing a good long stretch in prison.. However, there is a long way to go in this case and only time will tell which way it will go..

 

I have been thinking along the same lines mate, and if this proves to be right he will probably serve between 6 and 9 months..

 

s.9 - Maximum sentence of 14 years
s.10 - Maximum sentence of 14 years
s.15 - Maximum sentence of 10 years

He won't get the maximum sentence. Not in a million years. I think he will get 5-6 years maximum if guilty of all offences. In terms of the two he's admitted, and assuming it is only those two that he is found guilty of, I think he will get 2 years personally.

 

Of course the Jury will take into account the fact that she's a child.

There's a code of care, initiated by the EU that covers children in courts, especially in cases like this. The defense do not have the right to use harsh interrogation techniques that they would use on adults (over 18's) either, the judge would shut them down as soon as he tried to aggressively cross-examine her. She's not being considered as an adult, children never are in this country. The Jury would have no right to treat this case as if she were an adult, her age will be a factor in deciding the validity of her statement without question.

 

I'll go 6-9 months, if he get's not guilty on the other two charges, and 2 and a half year if he gets found guilty.

 

Is he being trialed accused of a section 10 offence? I thought the 14 years was exclusively for children under 13 anyhow.

I'm maybe reading it wrong though.

I think he'll be looking at 3 years and contrary to what RAW thinks, I think he'll end up serving the full lot because he's nothing more than a ****ing **** (Johnson not RAW ) who will have serious issues keeping his nose clean on the inside.

 

Under s.10 (1) (c) (i) it applies to a child under 16. So, that would explain one of the additional charges. The girl has indicated that he placed his hand on her head and 'guided' her. That would be where the charge would apply.

 

The maximum sentence would only come in to play with a young child. So he wouldn't be anywhere near the maximum. But, assuming he's found guilty of ss.9 and 10, he could get a couple of years for each with a further 1-2 years for s.15 grooming. Assuming he's only found guilty of kissing, touching and grooming he will get a short sentence, two years max.

 

The maximum sentence would only come in to play with a young child. So he wouldn't be anywhere near the maximum. But, assuming he's found guilty of ss.9 and 10, he could get a couple of years for each with a further 1-2 years for s.15 grooming. Assuming he's only found guilty of kissing, touching and grooming he will get a short sentence, two years max.

 

Alright mate, I got you the first two times

 

Haha bloody site. That's twice it's done it to me today!

 

Really? It'll go to case law 100% he won't get dispensation for having a good lawyer or being a footballer.

This is just for grooming:

 

On this occasion, I'm delighted to be proved wrong