The trial of Adam Johnson (part 2)

Kate Blackwell QC has put forward the prosecution’s closing arguments.

“He was deceitful and manipulative to his partner.

“He lied to police, he played down the relationship in his first interview.”

“These are lies he has admitted to, but the prosecution alleges that he has lied to you the jury. He is lying that it went no further than a kiss.”

“He broke the law when on January 30 he kissed her passionately, that much he admits.”

Addressing the credibility of the schoolgirl involved in this case, Ms Blackwell said: “All the make up and sparkly dresses in the world can’t mature the soul.

“While she thinks she knows it all, she has much to learn.”

She added: “This is a classic case of grooming in a classic form.”

“The influence of an experienced older adult, a man almost twice her age.”

 

And all that down the ****ter now.
Stupid bastard. Wonder what his parents think of him.

 

His parents will probably wonder what they did wrong...Johnson has damaged a 15 year old girl, his partner, his daughter, his mates, his parents and anyone else who cared about him.
I don't give a **** about him...but genuinely feel for all the others...none of this is their responsibility

 

I wonder what he thinks about himself ? Will there be genuine sorrow or remorse for his misdemeanour's -or will his self arrogance not allow that?

Fortunately for him he'll quite likely survive financially because of his previous earnings - as a person I reckon he'll probably drink himself into oblivion ...

 

I think you're right about him drinking himself in to oblivion - will he do it on his own though or will his hangers on still be on the scene to help him spend his money?

One things for certain, if I owned a pub/club then minted or not he would be barred!!!!!

 

This just about sums up my taking on the evidence I have heard too..

 

Can't really argue with anything that the Prosecution said in that statement.

 

Agree with her every word. I think his defence will happily accept what she's said though because there's nothing in it... She's calling him an immoral scumbag, but has provided no strong evidence whatsoever throughout this trial, or that closing statement, over the two charges he is denying.

 

I'll be shocked if he's found guilty of the other two offences. I can't argue with what she is saying, but she is asking the jury to imply that because Johnson has lied that there was sexual contact. I think there probably was, but without evidence you cannot convict him of it.

 

For he defence Orlando Pownall is now making a statement - he will no doubt raise all the flaws in the case - and show why he cost so much to hire - he will get Johnson off - sadly

 

That sounds right. He`s admitted to the provable charges. Doesn`t seem like there`s enough proof of anything more.

 

Pownall is at his best when he gives his closing speeches. He analyses everything and picks holes in the evidence to create reasonable doubt. All good barristers excel at that.

 

God I hate myself for what I'm about to say.... Dealing with everything that I've read throughout the trial, I don't believe anything sexual happened between them and maybe the girl said something happened to look good in front of her friends.

I hope he still gets found guilty of it though

 

She certainly doesn't seem to have proved much does she?

 

Interpretation at the end of the day. That's why we would probably disagree on a jury haha.

 

If I'm ever in crown court I hope you're not on the jury mate.

 

I've a feeling, I'll never be offered the opportunity. You'd be fine though, as long as it wasn't a crime that I disagreed with, I'd always go not guilty

 

It would be cool if some hi-tech hacking group dug out his old snap chat account and decided to 'publish' everything, in the event that he gets away with this. He's the type of ****er they target as well.

 

Mr Pownall said that the jury had been told of Johnson’s personality.

He said: “You may agree with the prosecution’s description of a spoilt footballer living in a privileged bubble, immature, arrogant, promiscuous.

“The only time he had to fend for himself was on the football pitch cheered on by thousands of fans.”

Turning to the teenager’s personality, Mr Pownall said the girl wanted to get attention.

He said: “Her mother warned her against stalking him, she was infatuated with Mr Johnson.”

Mr Pownall has highlighted inconsistencies in the girl’s stories as “untruths”.

He pointed out the girl has told the court she went to buy a bottle of pop after their meeting, though told her friends she bought water for Johnson.

“She has barricaded herself with the untruths she told,” he added

The defence barrister has highlighted that the teenager had asked her friends not to tell the whole story she had given them to the police.

“But for the fact she is an alleged victim she would be liable to be questioned for trying to pervert the course of justice,” he said.

“Imagine if she had succeeded, imagine if her friends had bent to her requests, this trial would be a farce.”

He said the girl lied because she was embarrassed.

Johnson’s defence says there are parts of the girl’s story she told the police, but didn’t tell school friends.

He said: “Is it a coincidence that not one of her friends had been told by the schoolgirl that he had moved the car to a more secluded spot?”

Mr Pownall has asked why the teenage girl did not tell her school friends about Johnson’s body hair, this is something that 15-year-old girls would discuss he said.

He went to question why data was deleted from the school girl’s phones.

“When the police went back to speak to the girl as late as January this year she lied again,” Mr Pownall told the court.

“We suggest to you that the deletion of these messages had nothing to do with freeing up memory but three members of the friendship group deleted data from the same time period. Can you be sure that this was done for wholly innocent reasons?”

Defence barrister Mr Pownall has said there have been very few genuine coincidences in this case.

“It wasn’t a coincidence that the messages were deleted,” Mr Pownall said and explained that the defence allege that the girl had told her school friends what to tell police.

Rumours about the girl’s relationship with the footballer “spiralled out of control” Mr Pownall said.

The jury were warned not to read to much into emojis (picture messages) between the girl and the footballer.

He said: “It’s a false emotion, something people do to while away the hours when they’ve got nothing to do.”

“The important fact is that she lied to you,” Mr Pownall has said to the jury.

“She has persevered with an untruth when she has been given ample opportunity to tell the truth.”

He added: “The girl was not wanting to lose face, she refused to admit something that might do that, she was bigging herself up, she was bragging.”

 

Her(CP) whole case will have built around a not guilty on all charges plea, she'll have been relying on the evidence of the the kiss causing a domino effect to mean she wouldn't have needed solid evidence for the last two charges. AJ's defence knew what they were doing by holding off on the plea. Nowt to do with the club or money and everything about manipulating the case to make sure they had nowt to nail him with the last two charges. Good defence lawyer and an undeniable ****house of a person.