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Adam Johnson Trial Verdict

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prehab26 said:
Well AJ lawyer has just said this, this morning

#Johnson barrister Orlando Pownall QC says he was present at meet with player & Ms Byrne on May 4 at which full case details disclosed

Why has he been allowed to continue to play. That will be the girls question when she asks for damages
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I think it all depends on exactly what was disclosed, and that is where the uncertainty is for me. Seems different people contradicting each other.

If byrne knew about sms / whatsapp messages, allegations and johnsons interview then questions need to be answered

If she knew about allegations only then club have done what i'd expect them to do.

Problem is who to believe, and to be honest the answer is probably none of them which means getting to know the truth is going to be difficult
 

prehab26 said:
Mr Pownall says at May 4 meet Ms Byrne knew #Johnson accepted meeting and kissing the 15yo schoolgirl

They you go. Why was he allowed to play ??at the time I said we should have left him suspended with full pay for his reason. The state of the clubs reputation now. Yes, because 1 scumbag but the fact that the club seemed to turn a blind eye is lifting. f***ing horrid.
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I agree with you.
The only thing I'd say is that I'd be slightly reluctant to totally condemn the club based on one line from a defence QC. That's not to say they weren't fully aware and don't deserve it.
 
The Sandance Kid said:
The truth, in these situations, will always come out eventually.

"You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time"
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speaking of the truth, Abe Lincoln actually said;

"You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time."

;)
 
HarryChest said:
It's amazing what the press are allowed to get away with tbh.

The BBC:
Adam Johnson: Durham Police say officers told Sunderland of sex act

The chief executive of Sunderland Football Club was told about Adam Johnson's sexual activity with a 15-year-old fan more than a year ago, police have said.

Durham Police said Margaret Byrne was told on 2 March 2015, the day of Johnson's arrest, that he had messaged and kissed the schoolgirl.

Now click on the link and listen to what gets said...
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We told the club we had an allegation of sexual activity, that they had met and exchanged messages however Adam Johnson HAD NOT been interviewed.

Therefore Sunderland were not told about the sexual activity, only the accusation of it. They decided to suspend him on the accusation of it, however, the maximum they can suspend on no pay is 2 weeks, bearing in mind Sunderland could not suspend him on full pay indefinitely as employees have a right to continue to exercise their profession if there is a real danger that they would lose their professional capabilities while out of daily professional training, most probably leading to a decrease in employability. So they basically had a choice to dismiss him on the accusations from the girl, or let him return to the club. I'm sure the club are a lot more wise to the rules than you and me

Furthermore, Johnson was ALWAYS going to plead guilty to the two charges that he admitted to, but he deliberately waited til the day of the trial to avoid being in the media for 6 months. If he pleaded guilty he would have been in the media every day until the date of his trial. Bearing in mind that there was going to be a jury that decided his guilt, he wanted as little as possible in the media, by admitting the first 2 allegations it was obvious he would have received bad publicity (as shown by the media when he admitted it)

Noone honestly thought he was actually going to plead not guilty when he had already admitted he knew she was underage and had kissed her in his police statements did they? There was no
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End of witch hunt then! They told the club about the allegation, nothing to say they told the club about any admission of guilt. The plod are having a mare.
 
janey said:
I don't know I'm not party to that information, and that's been the basis of my whole argument really, nobody knows, the full truth of the matter, there is no proof either way. It's just pissed me off that while the person who has caused this had the benefit of innocent until proven guilty and a trial with a judge and jury, while the club have undergone trial by media and been judged to be guilty until proven innocent without any of the benefits the twat who caused this has been allowed.
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Hear hear, well said Janey.
 
Gaz said:
I think it all depends on exactly what was disclosed, and that is where the uncertainty is for me. Seems different people contradicting each other.

If byrne knew about sms / whatsapp messages, allegations and johnsons interview then questions need to be answered

If she knew about allegations only then club have done what i'd expect them to do.

Problem is who to believe, and to be honest the answer is probably none of them which means getting to know the truth is going to be difficult
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We've got pretty much Byrnes word against a qc statement in a court of law and police now, there was enough in the club statement to carefully skirt a lot of is being asked for me.
 
janey said:
I don't know I'm not party to that information, and that's been the basis of my whole argument really, nobody knows, the full truth of the matter, there is no proof either way. It's just pissed me off that while the person who has caused this had the benefit of innocent until proven guilty and a trial with a judge and jury, while the club have undergone trial by media and been judged to be guilty until proven innocent without any of the benefits the twat who caused this has been allowed.
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100% this.
 
Mackemansj1 said:
You really won't have anything bad said about the club will you?. It's a super high profile case they ain't going to send a beat officer to answer questions on to are they?.
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I've criticised the club and pilloried the player so stop talking daft and stick to the facts, not my character.

I didn't say they shouldn't send a senior officer, what a strange thing to say.

I was asking other questions that you've totally ignored, for whatever reason.

Fair enough, that's your prerogative.
 
Couple things here and I'm far from an expert. What does employment law state in these cases? I'm sure that will be the legal advice the club has looked at. If he is adamant he's pleading not guilty and fighting the allegations all the way, then where does the club stand on sacking or suspending him and influencing the case in any way? Also like someone mentioned, the PFA have been contacted and they have given advice to the club on this and had their say no doubt. If they have put pressure on the club to support Johnson in this and made the implications clear to them if they don't, then why is there no questions being aimed at them?

Apologise if this has been covered, but it's a long thread.
 
Mackemansj1 said:
We've got pretty much Byrnes word against a qc statement in a court of law and police now, there was enough in the club statement to carefully skirt a lot of is being asked for me.
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Didnt the police contradict part of it under oath too though?

Like i said, most of them will be bending the truth to some degree. I agree it doesnt look good until the club say something to clear it up though one way or another
 
Did Johnson and the QC say they were pleading not guilty on May 4th? If so why would Byrne contradict the judgement of one on the best defence QC's in the country? It would be like a GP querying the judgement of a brain surgeon. If on the other hand they knew how he was going to plead then her position is untenable.

As an aside - bearing in mind the calamitous nature of the last few years - it's amazing that she's managed to hold onto that position.
 
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Mackemansj1 said:
Did you though? Police are saying the club had the information?.
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If that is referring to then Mystic Meg bit then given the nature of the charges, lifting the suspension followed by a guilty verdict was always going to give the club very bad PR, because thats the way the press / things work. Nobody could seriously believe anything else. Given the information coming out it makes the club look 10 times worse and the pressure much greater. The club obviously thought the risk was worth it, no way they could of believed there was no risk of this happening.
 
John J Rambo said:
Couple things here and I'm far from an expert. What does employment law state in these cases? I'm sure that will be the legal advice the club has looked at. If he is adamant he's pleading not guilty and fighting the allegations all the way, then where does the club stand on sacking or suspending him and influencing the case in any way? Also like someone mentioned, the PFA have been contacted and they have given advice to the club on this and had their say no doubt. Of they have put pressure on the club to support Johnson in this and made the implications clear to them if they don't, then why is there no questions being aimed at them?

Apologise if this has been covered, but it's a long thread.
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Again there was the option surly of simply just not playing him, the club might have went by the book so to say but it wasn't enough bare minimum seems to run throughout the club, and then is the question we all want answering what information did the club have, is it what the qc Johnson and police are saying?.
 
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