Girl describes meetings with Adam Johnson

A teenage girl has described how she met up with England footballer Adam Johnson for a “thank you kiss and more” after he signed football shirts for her.

The girl’s account was given to police and the video recording of the interview was played at the former Sunderland player’s trial at Bradford Crown Court.

Johnson, 28, denies two counts of sexual activity with the girl, who was 15-years-old at the time of the alleged incident.

The jury watched the girl’s police interview during which she described how Johnson was her favourite player.

She said: “I got a message from Sunderland player Adam Johnson who I’d idolised for quite a while.”

The girl said that, after exchanging messages, she first met-up with Johnson on January 17 last year when he signed two Sunderland shirts for her.

She then explained how the player continued to message her, talking about getting a “thank you kiss”.

“I was well up for it. It was a surreal type of thing,” she told the police officer.

“I met up with him again. I gave him his thank you kiss and more,” she said.

Last week, the jury heard how Johnson, of Castle Eden, Co. Durham, has admitted one count of sexual activity with a child and another of meeting a child following grooming.

He denies two further counts of sexual activity with a child, which prosecutors have described as “more serious”.

Johnson sat in the dock watching the girl give her account on two large video screens in the court.

He was wearing a dark blue suit, with a white shirt and a dark tie.

The girl described how Johnson exchanged WhatsApp messages with her after their first meeting, saying “you owe me for this” and “am I going to get a thank you kiss?”.

The teenager said that at the second meeting, in the player’s Range Rover, Johnson said to her: “I’ve come for my thank you kiss.”

She said that she eventually told him “go on then”, and they began kissing.

The girl said: “I was kissing him for quite a while.”

“He undid the button on my trousers. It took him a while to do that,” she said.

“He got his hand down my trousers. He started to put his hands in my knickers.”

The girl then described to the officer further sexual activity between the pair.

Later in the interview, the police officer asked the girl what Johnson knew about her.

She replied that the player knew how old she was, what school year she was in and where she sat at Sunderland matches. She said Johnson also knew her date of birth.

She said: “He asked me when I was 16.”

Asked how she felt, the girl said: “As much as I expected it to happen, I was a bit shocked it had. I sort of knew I had done something wrong.”

She then said: “It wasn’t that I didn’t want it or anything. I just knew it was wrong. I’m not one for being able to hold guilt.”