Latics starlet Tuohy 'devastated' to be told girl was only 14

Photo: Darren Robinson

Jack Tuohy

AN OLDHAM Athletic footballer said to have pressured and bullied a young schoolgirl into sex, told police he thought she was 16, and liked the attention she was giving him, a trial jury has been told.

Former Latics midfielder Jack Tuohy drove the soccer mad youngster who had developed a crush on him, to a remote spot in his car, where sex acts took place.

The girl panicked and ran home after her mother rang her on her mobile phone after being tipped off that she was out with a man, and police were called.

Tuohy, who is no longer with Oldham Athletic, at first denied the sexual encounter with the girl, then admitted they had kissed, before accepting what had happened. He said he had been scared after being told she was in fact only 14.

He said they had struck up a relationship after he accepted her friend request, and had frequently exchanged messages and texts, and swapped photos.

He told police that when they met on a Saturday night in October, 2015, he had simply wanted to talk to her as a "mate" about rows he had just had with his girlfriend.

Tuohy, of Arthur Street, Shaw, said he had been devastated to find the youngster was under-age, telling police: "I was shocked. I didn't know what to do."

A jury at Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court has been told that it is the Crown's case that the footballer first contacted her after she had asked him to pose for a photo during a schools soccer tournament at Latics' ground in May, 2015.

He insists however, that the girl sent him a friend request, which he accepted, because he regularly got similar requests from Oldham fans, and accepted most of them.

Tuohy pleads not guilty to five separate charges: meeting a child following sexual grooming, two counts of sexual activity with a child, and two counts of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

(Proceeding)