Sunderland footballer Adam Johnson has denied that the fear of losing a £60,000 per week salary compromised his response to accusations of grooming and kissing a 15 year-old girl.
Prosecution counsel accused Johnson of ''playing a game'' with the court, having previously denyed four charges against and then admitting to two of the offences on the opening day of the trial.
Kate Blackwell QC said his delay in pleading guilty has worsened his alleged victim's pain. And when Johnson was asked to explain the delay, he said:
''It's the advice I was given at the time and I went along with that."
Johnson was sacked by Sunderland earlier this month after he admitted to grooming and kissing a 15 year-old girl but the 28 year-old denies two additional charges of sexual relations with a minor.
During the trial, Johnson admitted to being arrogant and agreed he audaciously ''lived the life of a celebrity.'' He also added that he ''panicked'' and was ''in turmoil'' while being interviewed by police in March of last year.
He also said that he did not answer all of the questions truthfully.
''My world had got turned upside down and I was trying to play it down as much as I could. I was panicking. I had all these thoughts going through my mind about everything. To name a couple, my career, my family, I was in turmoil."
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