Andy Carroll names television dance coach Kevin Adams as his 2021 sexual attacker

Confirmation of identity

Andy Carroll confirmed that television choreographer Kevin Adams was the individual who sexually assaulted him at his home in 2021. The 37-year-old former England forward had first disclosed the assault in his autobiography, titled Owning It and published on 24 September 2026, without revealing the perpetrator's identity. Carroll explained that he decided to name Adams after discovering that the choreographer was already identified in publicly accessible court records. The admission followed extensive deliberation with his partner, Lou Teasdale, and his publisher, having initially hesitated to include the traumatic event in print. Carroll also asked members of the public to stop sending him photographs of Adams online as he attempts to move forward.

Now that Kevin Adams is named in court documents as my attacker, I can confirm this.

The Newcastle incident

The assault took place at Carroll's residence in Newcastle while he was playing his second spell for Newcastle United. Adams, an acquaintance and friend of Carroll's former partner Billi Mucklow, had visited the house to watch a televised boxing match after a football fixture. Carroll consumed drinks prepared by Adams, began feeling dizzy, and went upstairs to sleep. He woke during the night to find Adams attempting to perform a sexual act under the bedding. Carroll forced Adams out of the property, locked the door, and knocked him unconscious when he attempted to force his way back inside before calling emergency services. Attending police officers found Carroll in tears alongside his children's nanny, while his former partner was away from the home.

Legal proceedings and sentencing

Adams denied the accusations during a legal process that extended over two years, claiming during proceedings that Carroll had attacked him instead. Chelmsford Crown Court held the trial in September 2023, where a jury found Adams guilty of sexual offences. In November 2023, the court sentenced the former dance instructor to a custodial term, recorded as 20 months in British legal records and three years in continental European media coverage. The court also placed Adams on the sex offenders register for ten years and imposed an exclusion order barring him from entering the locality where Carroll lived. Prior to the conviction, Adams had operated a children's dance academy in Essex that closed in 2022.

Career impact and public response

Adams built his television profile through regular appearances as a dance instructor on BBC series including Fame Academy from 2002 and Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two in 2021, alongside choreographing for musical performers such as Mariah Carey, Cher, and the Spice Girls. For Carroll, who earned nine international caps for England and completed a £35 million transfer to Liverpool in 2011, the aftermath disrupted his professional focus across multiple seasons. After leaving French club Girondins de Bordeaux in the summer of 2025, Carroll took on duties as player, manager, and co-owner at English sixth-tier club Dagenham & Redbridge. Carroll stated that sharing his account publicly was intended to support other male victims of sexual assault.

Scary to talk about but it's made [me] the person I am today as much as any of the good stuff. And if me talking about it helps just one person then good, it will have been worth it.