Adam Johnson’s ex aborted their second child after he lied
PERVERT footballer Adam Johnson’s partner today reveals how he lied to her for a year about sexually assaulting a girl of 15.
Stacey Flounders, 29, mum of his baby girl, tells how she was so disgusted to finally learn the truth she aborted their second child.
She said: “I couldn’t bring another baby into the world. It destroyed me.”
The England and Sunderland winger convinced Stacey, mother of his baby daughter Ayla, he had merely kissed the girl fan, not realising how young she was.
But at his trial she learned he was not only fully aware the girl was under age — but had groomed her and engaged in “sexual touching”.
Stacey, 29, was so crushed by the transformation of Johnson from dream partner to sexual predator that when she later learned she was pregnant with his second child she felt compelled to have an abortion.
She said: “I heard everything that day in court for the first time after being kept in the dark for a year.
“I realised who Adam really was — an arrogant man who lied and lied to me. It destroyed me.
“He knew her age. He’d sent her hundreds of messages. He’d message her, then me, then someone else. Then there’d be another message from me to him asking when he was coming home. It was horrific.
“When his messages were read out I felt sick, I wanted to get up and punch him but I tried not to react because everybody was watching.
“He’d humiliated me. We’d never done magazine interviews, never been that kind of couple. But suddenly everyone knew my life.”
Stacey refused to speak to Johnson at Bradford crown court or during the drive home afterwards.
But when they arrived Stacey told him the relationship was over.
She revealed: “I said, ‘I’m not standing by you anymore. I’m moving out’. He said, ‘I’m sorry, I’m stupid. I didn’t know what I was doing’. But I couldn’t believe a word he said.”
After Johnson’s arrest Stacey discovered she was six weeks pregnant.
I knew I couldn’t bring another baby into the world.
She said: “We wanted more children. All I’d ever wanted was a normal family, a couple of kids.
“But it was all falling apart and the baby would have been due around the time of his court case.
“I knew I couldn’t bring another baby into the world, everything was a mess. I never thought I could have an abortion. Neither of us wanted to but we agreed it was for the best.
“It was heartbreaking but I felt I had no choice.”
Johnson, 31, sentenced in March 2016 to six years jail, is due to be released this month.
At trial he admitted kissing and grooming the girl. The jury found him guilty of sexual touching but not guilty of another sexual act.
Stacey had met Johnson five years earlier when he was a Manchester City player.
She fell for the charming, well-mannered sportsman — who seemed the polar opposite of the stereotypical image of the loutish, over-paid, womanising footballer.
But after he moved to Sunderland in 2012 his personality changed. He started going out drinking with team-mates, leaving pregnant Stacey at home. He began coming home late — on one occasion returning with lipstick on his shirt.
But although Stacey worried he was cheating she did not suspect the depths to which he had sunk.
Then one morning police turned up at their £1.85million mansion, Tollgate Lodge in Co Durham.
Stacey, sobbing as she recalled the moment, said: “The officer said he wanted to speak with me. I thought I’d been caught speeding.
“I pulled on a dressing gown and rushed to the door. Then he said he really wanted to speak to Adam.
“I’ll never forget seeing Adam at the top of the stairs. He went white with fear. Adam asked, ‘Is it about the girl in the shirt?’ They replied, ‘Why did you say that?’”
As £60,000-a-week Johnson was questioned alone, officers searched the home. Stacey said: “Before Adam was taken away he said to me, ‘It was a fan, I’ve only given her a shirt’.
“I kept asking, ‘What is he being done for?’ I had no idea.”
When the officers left Stacey rushed straight to the home of Johnson’s parents, who were looking after seven-week-old Ayla.
At 11pm Johnson returned. The normally unemotional footballer broke down. As he sobbed he admitted a string of infidelities.
Stacey said: “He finally admitted at least a dozen women.
“He said he didn’t know why he’d done it. Adam told me about the girl. I knew who she was. She would always be in the players’ car park after a game.
“She’d always ask for a picture with Adam. She was there so often I noticed when she wasn’t.
“She’d even messaged me on Twitter when I posted a picture of Ayla. Adam said, ‘I thought she was 16’. He said he’d given her a signed shirt and they’d had a kiss, nothing more. I believed him. She looked about 21.”
In fact Johnson had known her age all along. He first met her when she was 14 outside Sunderland’s training ground.
She posed for a photo with him which her parents used on a cake to celebrate her 15th birthday.
I just believed what he told me.
Stacey Flounders
A few days before New Year’s Eve 2014, while Stacey was heavily pregnant with Ayla, the girl sent Johnson a Facebook friend request.
He accepted and sent her his mobile number.
They then exchanged more than 800 WhatsApp messages. He asked if she was in the last year of school and she admitted she was in Year 10 and too young to go out. They met on January 17, when Ayla was nine days old, behind a Chinese takeaway.
The girl got into his £80,000 Ranger Rover Sport.
He gave her a signed shirt before dropping her off.
Flirty messages continued and when they met again sexual activity took place. Four days later Johnson researched “age of consent” online.
After Johnson’s arrest Stacey stood by him. She said: “I didn’t go to the legal meetings with Adam, I just believed what he told me.
“He was still playing for Sunderland, mixing with fans after the game. We were still being invited to club events, so it didn’t seem serious. I never heard from Sunderland, not once, but they were supportive to Adam.
“He promised he’d stop cheating. We returned to being a family. We shared a bed, our love life returned.”
But the horrors revealed as she sat in court made her realise Johnson had shattered her dream of the perfect family life.
He was revealed as a sex addict who regularly met women after training sessions.
He saw the schoolgirl as “just another opportunity, the court was told. Stacey said: “I only went for one day in court and realised it was so serious.
“I rented a house and moved out. The day I left Adam was laid on the sofa. He was depressed. I felt sorry for him — then remembered what he had done.”
But days later Johnson’s legal team contacted Stacey asking for her help with his defence.
His young victim, giving evidence relating to the sexual activity charge on which Johnson was eventually cleared, described him having shaved his pubic hair.
Stacey said: “He’d never done that. It was untrue so I was prepared to stand up in court and say that. A lot of people judged me but we have a daughter and one day I have to explain my actions to her. I told the truth for her.”
Stacey said having to give evidence was “horrendous”.
She added: “It felt like the worst day of my life. But every day was a new worst day for me.”
Stacey was also with Johnson and his family the night before his sentencing — helping him make videos for Ayla to watch on the birthdays he would miss.
She said: “It was very emotional. He told her he loved her. He knew he was going to prison. The following morning he said goodbye to Ayla and whispered, ‘I’m sorry’.”
