Adam Johnson verdict delayed as judge tells jury not to ‘rely on sympathy’

Deliberations will continue into another day.

On Tuesday, just before noon, Judge Jonathan Rose sent the 12 jurors in the Adam Johnson case out to decide upon their verdict. After around three hours of deliberations, they had yet to agree upon an outcome. Instead they have been sent home and asked to continue into Wednesday morning, starting at 10am. Earlier, the judge warned the jury that their decisions must "not rely on sympathy either for the girl or for Adam Johnson", and that they must "put such feelings out of the way, and only concentrate on the evidence." His final comment to the jury was: "When you retire, you must reach verdicts on which you are all agreed. I can only accept unanimous verdicts in this case. 12-0 is the only possible score." The jury later asked the judge to clarify the schoolgirl’s account of Johnson moving his car in her police interviews. The judge told the jury that following was said: "It’s more isolated - there’s not people walking around unless they’re going to the gardens but it was dark so there wasn’t anyone going there."